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.ALIPOHNIA 

fac Qtat aacmmcnto VaJlcv 




THE 



Sacramento Vafley 



OF CALIFORNIA 



Its Resources, Industries and Advantages 
Scenery, Climate and Opportunities 



Facts for the Investor, Home-Maker 
and Health'Seeker 



BY A. J. WELLS 



Published by the Passenger Department of the 

SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY 

San Francisco, Cal. 

J904 



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IN EXCH A 



THE 



Sacramento Valley. 



^ ^ ^ 



VALLEYS AND POPULATION 

The earlier homes ot men were in the valleys of the v\'orld. As 
the rude beginnings of civilization began to till the soil, the river- 
conrses were followed. These offered the fewest obstacles. The 
farmers could not hew their wdy in the thick forests, and the 
rivers provided both water and food. Afterward the valleys were 
occupied by choice, because there were the rich and exhaustless 
soils. So that in India, in China, in Egypt, as in England and the 
newer lands of America, the drift of life has been first along the 
alluvial lands which border great rivers, and the centers of agricul- 
ture (the one industry which sustains cities and underlies organized 
society) have always been in the great valleys. They are the 
natural homes of men, and the pressure of population to-day will 
not long suffer habitable watercourses to lie unfilled. 

The Sacramento is one of the great valleys of the world. It 
has nearly fiOOO square miles of alluvial land, and its bordering 
foothill and mountain intervales represent not less than 2000 .square 
miles additional — an empire in itself. The soil is of exceptional 
fertility, being drawn through ages from the forested mountain 
ranges, its chemical elements held where deposited, in a region 
never visited by torrential rains. No country of the world, not 
Spain nor Italy, nor any of the countries bordering the Mediter- 
ranean, has a climate so kind to man, nor so vast a range of pro- 
ductions. The experts of the government, in their report on 
irrigation, say : 

"As an agricultural State California stands alone. No other 
humid or arid commonwealth has as diversified products. 
In some respects the climate is marvelous in its possibilities. 
. Sacramento," the report continues, "has the same lati- 
tude as Southern Illinois, yet is surrounded by districts where blue 
grass lawns are shaded by palm and orange trees. The summers 
are not too hot for the turf nor the winters too cold for the (tropi- 
cal) trees." 

Prof. Elwood Mead, in his report for the Department of /\gri- 
culture, speaks of "a world-wide movement toward the Pacific 
Coast," and predicts that "the opening years of the twentieth 
century will witness a new era of home-making in the West." 



It has already begun. California is in the dawn of this new era, 
and the Sacramento Valley is to be the theater of an immense 
activity. With the San Joaquin it constitutes the great agricultural 
heart of the State, and it is the only great valley on the planet 
which has at once a fertile soil, an inviting climate, vast unde- 
veloped resources and a sparse population. Are there serious 
disadvantages to account for this last statement? We know of 
none. It must be remembered that this is a new country. Men 
are yet living and active who saw the beginnings of our Sierra 
civilization. For a long time it was a remote land. It took 
months of time and half a year's income to reach it. After the 
railroad spanned the continent California was still far from the 
Eastern cities and homes and the sense of isolation was great. 
Now we are but three days from Chicago; the ends of the world 
hail each other, and travel is not expensive. 

Then, too, this is a large country. If the population is sparse 
it is only so comparatively. It is scattered over a great area. 
Nearlv 20,000 square miles of arable land are in the great interior 
valley, and this is a land too vast to be conquered except by 
degrees. 

THE DATS or GOLD 

In the American settlement of California the honest miner is 
the principal figure, and the romance of the early gold discoveries 
lies close to the great Sacramento X'alley. But the men of the pick 
and the shovel were not looking for valleys but for caiions and 
hills; not for farms but mines. For the first decade the whole fair 
land seemed to have no value save that deposited in the mountains 
and along their watercourses. The hard, dry soil, the broad, 
almost treeless plains, and the strange, unfamiliar climate, seemed 
to promise little for the farmer, and few attached any importance to 
wiiat is now the real wealth of the State. It was the land of gold 
and not of grain and fruits, and the brilliancy of the yellow metal 
in the sands and gravel drifts obscured every other interest with 
dazzling light. Years came and went without faith in what has 
since proved to be rich without precedent. 

This is not strange. Men move along the lines with which they 
are familiar. They judge from the facts which observation and 
experience have fixed in their minds. The pioneers in California 
saw that the farm life which they knew could not be practiced here. 
The seasons were topsy-turvy; midsummer showed a land asleep 
or dead. The rainless skies had left a hopeless aridity, in which 
no harvests could ripen. Spring came in autumn with the first 
rains, and midwinter by the calendar was in fact the season of 
growth, and the almanac tha! 1 nng by the kitchen stove at home 
was otit of joint in this new land. 

The adjustment of life to the new environment came slowly. 





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Sacramento Valley Peaches. 

Agriculture and horticulture became, in time, new arts, following 
the suggestions of the seasons and adjusted to new vicissitudes in 
Nature. Yet in a single generation these arts have made California 
the wonder of the world, and to-day it is as widely known by its 
harvests and its fruits as it once was by its yield of gold. 

But these two facts have delayed its growth in population. The 
bottom industry of society is agriculture, and there is no great 
development of towns and cities except as based upon the farm 
life of the country. Here men came first to mine the hills and not 
to plow the valleys. Afterwards, the conditions of soil and seasons 
were too new and unfamiliar to attract the farmer. 

In later years the mind has slowly adjusted itself to the facts 
of California climate. " Latitude " has been a difficulty. Natur- 
ally, the words "Northern" and "Southern" were clothed with 
their old-time significance, and Northern California was associated 
with other portions of the United States on similar parallels of 



latitude. But as we travel up and down in this region, we soon 
find that the general rule — that temperature diminishes one degree 
tor every degree of latitude as we go north — does not apply in 
California, and that the word " xXorthern " has here no climatic 
significance whatever. Here, as elsewhere in the State, we find an 
unexpected strangeness, a country not subject to the general law, 
and where the climatic miracle constantly surprises the traveler. 
There is substantial climatic unity, and the orange and the lemon, 
the olive and the fig, and the tropical palm tree are as much at 
home here in the Sacramento X^illey and the foothills as they are 
six hundred miles farther south. 

This is a condition unprecedented, and cannot be paralleled 
in any other country of the v.^orld. The wise man will make a 
note of it. It has taken fifty years to appreciate the fact that the 
relations between latitude and temperature in California are wholly 
anomalous ; that here is found the largest variation of an iso- 
thermal line in the world — the loop which embraces regions of 
equal temperature, reaching from Riverside County to Tehama 
and Shasta Counties in the north. It took time to accumulate 
facts ; it took longer time to perceive their significance. The suc- 
cessful growth of citrus fruits has placed the question beyond 
debate. To-day the time is ripe for the development of the Sacra- 
mento Valley. 

THE e:arliest settlements 

One of the great ranches ot the State, known all over the 
world, is the " Rancho Chico." John Bidwell settled beside the 
Sacramento River in Butte County, and the Spanish grant, made 
to him more than fifty years ago, is one of the show places of 
California to-day. On the 25,000 acres lying beside the river, 
there is growing now a wider range of plant life than can be found 
elsewhere, in one locality, in the world. In the long history of 
this great Rancho it is said there has never been a failure of crops. 
Nearly everything that can be grown in the temperate and semi- 
tropic regions of the earth can be seen growing on this land in 
vast variety and in wonderful luxuriance. With thousands of 
square miles of virgin soil to choose from, this pioneer sat down 
beside the river in this northern valley, and his sagacity is vouched 
for by the growth of to-day. That which attracted the pioneer 
remains unchanged — the broad, rich lands, and the beneficent 
climate. 

Another of the advance guard, coming before the days of gold, 
was John A. Sutter. Sutter's Fort stands within the corporate 
limits of the capital city. This old, historic landmark is rich in 
associations. It was the first gathering place of the straggling 
advance which preceded the great rush of gold seekers, after 
Marshall's discoverv at Coloma had become known. Sutter's 




Sutter's Fort — Reconstructed. 



home was the picket line of the new civilization which was coming. 
One of the earliest and largest grants of land ever made in this 
territory by Mexico was made to the adventurous General Sutter. 
With an empire to choose from, he located here, on the banks of 
the Sacramento. The richness of the surrounding country attests 
the wisdom of his choice. Where his fortress-home stood, in lone- 
liness on the flower-starred plain, is now a handsome city, and 
where he saw the herds of wild horses and the bounding antelope 
and deer are now rich farms and luxuriant orchards — the growth 
of half a century. 

These are but two examples of the wisdom that guided the 
pioneers in the early settlement of a great State. The " VVolfskill 
grant," of which Winters is the center, one of the earliest fruit 
districts in the State, is another example. Delightful climate, sit- 
uation at the base of rolling hills on the west, soil sedimentary and 
rich in the elements essential to plant life. Theodore Winters 
chose a location every way desirable, and today equal to the best. 
This will suffice. The agricultural beginning was in this region. 
The reasons which appealed to these early settlers is apparent 
to-day. It can hardly be said that " they builded better than they 
knew." The land was before them, and their judgment is not 
questioned by those who know the great Valley best. 




Old Stage Coach and Prairie Schooner of the 
Sutter's Fort, Sacramento. 



Days of '49. 



THC VALLBY CENTE:R 

We take up now, in their order, the points of interest in the 
region, the plains, the foothills and mountains, the cities and 
towns, and the productions of the country, anticipating, as far 
as we can, the questions which the home-seeker or the traveler 
might ask, and seeking to present a fair and just view of this sec- 
tion. 

This is the chief city of Northern California, and 
SACRAMENTO the capital at once of the county and of the State. 
It is an attractive and prosperous city. The 
traveler from across the mountains gets his first vivid impression 
of California in the streets of the capital. Here are new and 
strange growths in the dooryards; here is a half-tropical air and a 
profusion of bloom. Exposed in the market-places are unusual 
fruits. In the yards and gardens the broad leaf of the palm and 
banana and the luxuriant growth of the magnolia arrest attention. 
The date palm has even a tropical suggestion, and the Camellia 
Japonica abloom in February and March; the pansies, daisies and 
violets growing unprotected; the groves of orange and lemon in 
the suburbs; the yellow fruit in the market-places in December, 
and carloads leaving for the East even in November; and straw- 
berries, green peas and lettuce, and all kinds of vegetables, scarcely 
absent from the open stalls at any time during the year, tell a story 
of country and climate as strange as were the earlier stories of 
gold. 



The park around the State-house, covering about thirty aci'e.^, 
is full of flowers and half-tropical growths. Here are trees from 
the mountains where the snow-fall is deep, and trees from regions 
nearer the equator where the sun is hot. The visitor has come 
out of snow-storms and wintry desolation, and he finds himself 
in an Eden of foliage and bloom. 

The State-house is an imposing and beautiful structure, built ol 
granite at a cost of more than three million dollars. It shelters an 
extensive miscellaneous library, of somewhat unusual value, and 
one of the best law libraries in the Union. 

The city has a valuable art gallery, full of fine paintings and 
works of art, and supports a School of Design. A large Govern- 




The Capitol Square, Sacramento. 




Sacramento Orange Trees — Used for Shade. 

ment building of excellent architecture is iiere, in which the Post- 
office, the Land Office, the Weather Bureau and other departments 
of the general Government are located. Schools and churches, 
fine residences, ornamental grounds, shaded and well-kept streets, 
large business blocks and commodious hotels, with new structures 
going up constantly, indicate prosperity. 

Sacramento is a railroad center of much importance. The 
traffic up and down the Valley, the trans-mountain and trans-con- 
tinental travel, the immense foothill and mining and lumbering 
region, with its towns and villages and fruit farms, all find a center 
here. The Southern Pacific Railway shops are here, covering 
twenty acres of ground, and they often employ three thousand men. 

A good deal of money is invested in manufacturing, more than 
three hundred establishments turning out various products. A large 



wholesale business is done in the city, and it is the center of an 
extensive general trade. 

Three lines distribute electrical power, supply lights and furnish 
motive energy to most of the industries. The street car system is 
operated entirely by electricity, and natural gas furnishes both light 
and fuel. 

The city's rail and water transportation, its unlimited electrical 
possibilities, the immense and fertile acreage around it, filled 
with homes, the rich mining region directly tributary to it, and the 
vast fruit interests surrounding it, would seem to insure the capital 
city's steady growth in population and in commercial importance. 

There are many indications of a new and prosperous era open- 
ing throughout the State and the Sacramento Valley will shortly be 
the theater of an immense activity. 

Sacramento is the county seat of the county of the same name. 
Here are six hundred thousand acres of agricultural land, produc- 
ing wheat, barley, oats, corn and hay, hops, almonds, walnuts and 
all the fruits. It is sometimes said of a city that " it has no back 
country to support it." But Sacramento is central to an immense 





Sacramento River. 



area of wonderfully fertile land, with an unlimited water supply, 
four rivers traversing the territory immediately adjacent. More 
than ten thousand acres in the county alone are in alfalfa, and the 
dairying interests are large. Nothing is lacking to make this one 
of the richest farming regions in the world, or to insure the perma- 
nent growth of Sacramento. 



Southwest of the capital city lie the rich and level 
BRIGHTON farm and fruit land's around Brighton Station. A 
branch road runs from here to Placerville, one of 
the oldest of the mining towns. 

This is a great strawberry center — one of the most 
FLORIN wonderful in the world. Something in the soil, or 
the climate, or the combination of the two is respon- 
sible for an extraordinary yield. Seven tons to the acre is not an 
unusual yield. In 1893 the output was 8000 crates; in 1902 146,000 
crates or nearly 1100 tons. They are shipped to Portland, Ore., 
Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Butte, Mont., Salt Lake and points as 
far as Chicago. Raspberries and loganberries — a cross between 
a blackberry and a raspberry — are also grown. The latter are 
very prolific. 

Florin is seven miles from Sacramento and is a progressive 
and growing town. 

The fine farms, the abundant fruit, the evidences 
ELK QROVE of ease and comfort appeal to the passing traveler. 
Everything grows — fruit, flowers, vegetables, 
grain — and there is no month in the calendar which does not pro- 
duce something, and in which are not gathered fruits and vege- 
tables for market. 




Strawberry Beds at Florin. 
14 




Among the Orange Ranches of Fair Oaks. 



This town lies between two streams, Dry Creek and the 
QALT Cosumnes River. The lands are desirable, and can l)e 
purchased lor from forty dollars to sixty dollars an 
acre. Yet perhaps 40,000 acres here will produce as good 
oranges as can be grown in the State. Grapes, olives, oranges, 
and deciduous fruits of many kinds are being planted, and lands 
are regarded as too valuable for grain growing. The exceptional 
character of the climate has hardly been realized. This county 
averages 238 clear days in the year, while the citrus region of 
Italy only reckons 220. Nice itself has but 229 cloudless days. 
In this region, naturally, fruit reaches a perfection unknown in 
other lands. 

From Gait a branch road reaches this pretty little town 
lONE of 1200 people, situated in one of the delightful sub- 
valleys of the foothills. It belongs to Amador, a rich 
mining county, but with much fruit and farm land. Oranges will 
do well here, and this red soil will produce the finest of grapes, 
tone is the terminal point of the Southern Pacific for this region. 
.Stages run to the large mining towns of Amador, Sutter Creek, 
fackson and others, and a large amount of freight is handled here. 
Returning to the main line we go back to Brighton, and take the 
branch road into El Dorado County. Through a fair and level 
country full of orchards, vineyards and hop fields we come to Fair 
Oaks Junction and a spur carries us to 

This is an attractive colony of Eastern ]x-ople who 

FAIR OAKS have located here. The high bluHs along the 

American River, and the rolling country on the 



iioilli iiKikcs lliis ;i picUirc'Sciik- le-ioii that will fill ii]) uilli liand- 
some homes as the city expands. Tlie land is thickly dotted with 
oak trees, in the colony are doc^tors, editors, bankers, clergymen 
and railroad men — business men of" ability and enterprise. The 
population is about <>()() and represents the growth of" six years. 
The fruits are oranges, lemons, olives, pomeloes, grapes and 
deciduous fruits, the chief attention being given to oranges and 
olives. It is but hfteen miles into the city, the gilded dome of the 
capitol shining in the sun, while eastward rise the purple masses 
and snowy summits of the vSierras. A beautiful region, in a delight- 
ful climate, and an instructive illustration of what can be done 
in this X'alley in the way of pleasant and profitable home making. 
It is one of the most beautiful spots in the State, and its industries 
are full of promise. Olive culture is a close second to orange 
culture, and the finest olives and olive oil are produced in this 
location. The charming location, the fine groves, the handsome 
residences, and general air of cultivation make this colony well 
worth a visit. The High .School, paid for by the citizens, and 
churches are indications of the quality of its citizenship. 

This is another colony growing citrus fruit, and 
ORANQEVALE has been remarkably successful . The absence 

of hurtful frosts and the early ripening of the 
fruit has been fully proven. The quality of the fruit is of the very 




Giant Fig Tree, Stephens' Ranch, Mayhews. 
17 




River Landing Below Sacramento. 

best, and the matter of orange growing in "Northern" Califor- 
nia has long since passed the experimental stage. Without scale 
or smut, never washed or rubbed before packing, and ripening 
early in the long, cloudless months, they are as bright in color and 
fine in tiavor as the best from other sections. 

This colony is older than Fair Oaks and almost equally pictur- 
esque. Here are about 500 acres in oranges, and no finer-looking 
groves can be found anywhere, or better fruit. Olives and vines 
are also in evidence. Grapes do exceedingly well and a vineyard 
will return from |575 to |;200 an acre net. This region is espe- 
cially adapted to table grapes, and the Flame Tokay grows to per- 
fection. This is the highest-priced table grape that is grown. 

Water from the American River is distributed, under pressure, 
for irrigation and domestic purposes. Good water, good land, 
good climate, and the colonists have added good schools, sur- 
rounded themselves with productive orchards, and with rural mail 



delivery and ready access to tlie city, liave made this a desirable 
neighborhood. 

Here is a great vineyard of 1900 acres and a winery. 
NATOMA The quality of California grapes and wines is no 
longer a matter of speculation. The demand is 
increasing both at home and abroad and the prices to the grower 
of wine grapes is remunerative. It takes but three years to bring 
a vineyard into bearing, and a handsome income is assured there- 
after from a small acreage. A small vineyard in this region was 
planted in 1854 and is perfectly vigorous and productive to-day. 
The great enemy of the European vineyardist is hail. Here it 
is unknown, and rain and frost are little more to be feared. Land 
can be had for from $-iO to |ilOO an acre, but there are no vineyards 
for sale. 

Nature has made this a desirable region, but many 
FOLSOn of the people here are being taken care of by the State. 

One of the two penal institutions of California is located 
here. The State shows its interest in the "Good Roads Move- 
ment " by providing broken rock — the work of the prisoners here 
— free to all districts that will use it. 

The region is attractive and productive and a good deal of fruit 
is grown Folsom was the center of active gold mining half a 
century ago. It is located on the American River, and ground 




Power House, Folsom, Cal. 

19 




Hop Fields, Showing Metiiod of Supporting Vines. 



that was trodden over for years lias recently proved very rich in 
the yellow scales. P olsoni is still in the valley proper, with much 
rich land around it at low prices. Dairying in all this region is 
profitable. Herds are kept in the lowlands until the grass dries 
up and are then driven to the summer ranges in the mountains. 
A winter range and a summer range within 100 miles of each 
other and both furnishing an abundance of natural and succulent 
grasses for feed is something that cannot be found in any other 
county in the State, or in atiy other State in the Union. 

This is a good region for the homeseeker, and will be sought 
out. There is much room for improvement, and the climate, the 
soil, the proximity to the Capital, the horticultural growths which 
are possil:)le make this a desirable place to come to for a fresh start. 




A Drying House for Hops. 



The foothills are here, and many small farms. They 
LATROBE are tucked away in many little intervales and 

on the hill slopes, as we climb up past Latrobe, 
Bennet, Shingle Springs, El Dorado and Diamond, small but 
thriving towns in a delicious climate, but dependent upon the 
rainfall and the prosperity of the farmers. I'^ine fruit is produced 
here without irrigation, though water in many places can be 
obtained of the ditch companies. Land is cheap. A good deal 
can be bought for ten dollars an acre, much for less. This land 
will produce grain or fruit. In a small way stock is raised, and 




Table Grapes, Fair Oaks. 

many farmers do a little mining during the rainy season. Large 
mines, well up the slope, and mills and lumbering furnisn local 
markets. 

Here is the terminus of the branch line — an 
PLACERVILLE old and famous mining center. The county 

still yields largely in returns of the yellow metal. 
The soil is granitic and the elevation from five hundred to fifteen 
hundred feet. Peaches are a never failing crop ; Bartlett pears 
reach perfection ; oranges are found in sheltered localities and do 
well. This is one of the oldest fruit growing counties, and, as 
elsewhere, the business is profitable. The whole State can show 
no better fruit than comes from this region. 

Placerville is a lively town, and growing. A door, sash and 
window factory has been recently built and other enterprises are 
assured. The only slate quarries in the State are near here, and 
the demand exceeds the output. The finest of white marble is 
found at Indian Diggings, and there are extensive deposits of 
limestone. There are good grazing lands, and grain, hay and 
vegetables yield a good revenue. The fruit industry is expanding, 
and new packing-houses are being erected to meet the demand. 
There are thousands of acres of sugar pine forests in the county. 
Coloma, where gold was first found, is eight miles northwest 
from Placerville. A small hamlet now, with a bronze statue of 
Marshall on a hill overlooking the American River. 



22 



Returning again to Sacramento we take the overland route and 
cross the American River. The suburbs of the capital city are 
green with grass and attractive with fruit and (lowers. One of the 
most noted thoroughbred horse farms of the West is close by, and 
dairy ranches, orchards and pleasant homes are observed. Growing 







,t,,#p4®i 


^M 







Oleander, Sacramento. 

23 



all the cereals, all the deciduous fruits, producing' successfully in 
recent years the citrus fruits, the county grows also hops, alfalfa 
and asparagus. 

This junction town, whence the line up the Valley 
ROSEVILLE diverges, is on the edge of the land ripples which 
are the beginnings of the Sierra foothills. They 
are uplands, hardly distinguishable at first from the valley, but 
becoming more broken and rolling as we go back toward the 
range. In the folds of the land are small valleys — little nooks 
holding a family, or two or three — places full of beauty. Roseville 
is a shipping point and about it are vineyards, orchards and farms. 
The lowly but luscious and tempting melon grows here, the crop 
rivaling Lodi's, and the quality equaling Georgia's best. Hay is 
grown and a diversified farm life is seen. Many grapes are grown 

As its name suggests, the rock-ribs of the planet are 
ROCKLIN thrust up here. The finest granite crops out and 

quarries are extensively worked. The State-house at 
Sacramento, the street curbings in San Francisco, and the solid fronts 
of many costly buildings are from these quarries. Here fruit ripens 
to perfection. Soil, climate, drainage — all combine to make as 
good a peach as a boy ever ate or an expert ever looked wise over. 
Oranges ripen early and with splendid color and pay well. Vine- 
yards are also in evidence, the first carload of raisins ever shipped 
from California going from Rocklin. 




Residence In City of Sacramento. 




A Washington Navel Orange Tree. 

The large shipping houses here tell the story of fruits, 
LOOMIS such as Eden never knew, the culmination of centuries 

of selection. Oranges, peaches, pears, berries ot 
many kinds — almost the whole catalogue. The small fruits are 
grown extensively. Olives are here, in a soil that seems to suit the 
gray and dusty looking tree and in an air finer than Italy knows. 
Decomposed granite makes an ideal soil for most fruit, and the 
decomposed climate of the best countries of the Mediterranean 
region could not excel this dry, warm, even-tempered atmosphere 
that never breaks out in scjualls. 

Still the granite yields to the quarryman, and the 
PENRYN granite soil nourishes the spreading orchards. No 

lack of faith here in the success of oranges, as new 
groves testify. These foothills get "brown as a berry," but "laugh 
and grow fat" with harvests wherever the water runs. It is a 
good region. There are hundreds of scjuare miles of such land in 

26 



Calitornia that will grow the hnesl truit hi the world in as fine all 
air as ever human being breathed; and the land is cheap, and will 
presently grow beautiful w'ith homes and orchards. 

This is the center of the Placer County fruit 
NEWCASTLE belt. More than one thousand carloads of 

deciduous fruits were shipped from this point in 
1900. Here the business hrst sprang into prominence, and its 
importance is testified to to-day by the widening area in fruit trees. 
Cherries grow almost riotously, and the robins and the small boys 
will tell you where the i)est ones are. Here are some of the largest 
cherry trees in the world, and one at least has yielded three thou- 




A Vineyard in the Foot Hills 



sand pounds in one season. The town is prosprnjus and isliglilt-d 
by electricity. 

this is the county seat, and one of the charming towns 
AUBURN of the Coast. It is much resorted to for health, its 
elevation being just right. First-class hotels, good 
water, electric lights, street railways, a storehouse of fruit, and in 
touch with the mines, it has much to attract the visitor. The red 
soil is characteristic of the foothills, and the diversified landscape, 
in the midst of which the town is situated, gives it a picturesque 
aspect. The two seasons are spring and summer, blending imper- 
ceptibly, and with a charm like that of Persia, where it is said that 
they have very little weather. So delightful were the conditions 
that no one talked about the weather. It was not the subject of 
remark. There are multitudes who not only have never lived 
in such a climate as this, but cannot realize it to the imagination. 
There will be a city here before many years. "No empire," 
said Montesquieu, "so enduring as the empire ol climate," and 
that will make Auburn famous some day and multiply its streets and 
homes. The red hills all about are scarred by the gold seekers. 

These are stations on the way up 
the long western slope of the Sierras, 
and are embowered in fruit trees. 
All the fruits grow here, and no 
more delicious climate ever made 



CLIPPER GAP 
APPLEQATE AND 
NEW ENGLAND MILLS 




Orchards, Where Once the Miner Delved. 



childhood rosy, or wooed the invalid back to health. These dry, 
red hillsides look uninviting, but the orchards and vineyards do 
not. Wherever the water can be turned on the growth is quick 
and luxuriant. The peach blooms the second year from the pit, 
then bears on for thirtv vears or more. The olive fruits on the 





Cape Horn, American River Canyon Below, 




Gold Run Diggings as Left by the IVIiners. 



Mediterraiiean after seventeen years; here it bears a full crop at 
seven. 

This is a pleasant foothill town of considerable activity. 
COLFAX It is a distributing point for Iowa Hill, Forest Hill and 

other mining towns. Here, too, the Narrow Gauge 
Railroad runs off to the rich mining towns of Grass Valley and 
Nevada City, and carries supplies for the region beyond. The 
elevation here is about 2500 feet. The rainfall is abundant, and 
the Bartlett pear and the Tokay grape grow without irrigation. 
They bring the highest prices in Chicago and New York. 

We marvel at the faith which said that a railroad 
CAPE HORN could l)e builded through these mountains, and at 
this point it is still more amazing. Cape Horn is 
a projection of the rocky framework of the mountain — a shoulder 
thrust out and a shelf of rock, like a great epaulet, on the shoulder. 
Along this awful curve the train creeps and halts a moment. 
Everybody "rubbers" now and does it (juickly, for the vision does 
not tarry. The train rolls on, but you have a picture of blue depths 
that will last a lifetime. A dizzying height and an impressive scene, 
where, 2200 feet below, the American River, a mere thread, zigzags 
down its golden channel. Eastward are seen the washed-out banks 
of Iowa Hill, scarred and seamed by the men of another gener- 
ation. Westward, over orchards and vineyards, lies the town we 
have lately left, and beyond, in the haze, sleeps the great Valley. 



Thi 



GOLD RUN 
DUTCH FLAT 
TOWLES 



rand raiion of the American River is vvortli gx)ing far to see. 
These quaint old towns are full of interest. 
Their old flavor is gone, but the air is full of the 
romance of the olden time, and seems to ex- 
hale reminiscence and inquiry. Life had a 
golden hue when men could gather gold 
by handfuls. In a ravine we have just passed five cartloads of 
dirt yielded one man $16,000. Others collected from 1500 to 
11500 a day — and no doubt wished it was more. The deep 
gold-bearing gravels of ancient river-beds, lying high above 
the present watercourses, were rich with gold.' The ravines are 
still profitably worked. Good apples grow on these mountain 
slopes, and many kinds of fruit in a small way. The fine dry air 
full of balsamic odors, the pure water, the fruit and the novelty of 
mining processes attract many summer visitors. Towles is a 
center for considerable lumbering. 

Still in the scenic region, and where the 
weary emigrant trains crawled slowly down 
the long looked for western side of the Sier- 
ras. It is only 38 miles back to Colfax 
from Cisco, yet in that distance we have 
Here are the long snow-sheds, a little trying 
limpses only of noble 



BLUE CANON 
EMIGRANT GAP 
CISCO 



climbed 3512 feet. 

to the sightseer to-day, who catches 

scenery where a plank is missing, 




Dutch Flat, Sierra Nevada, 

31 




Donner Lake. 



Independence, Donner and Weber Lakes lie here, 
CASCADE near the summit. They are famous for their 

LAKE VIEW beauty and their trout, and are the resort of sports- 
men from near and far. These crystal waters, 
lying outspread at this elevation, looked down upon by the tall 
pines and by the frozen summits where the snow lingers, are 
called glacial lakes and hark back to a period too cold for comfort, 
when the ice cap fitted the hills and all was bleak and desolate. 
Now flowers bloom in the open spaces and green forests stretch 
away, " excellent as the cedars of Lebanon." 

Donner Lake is seen from the train, "lying like a great 
sapphire in its pine setting among the clustering crags." 

This is the chief town of the mountain region, located 
TRUCKEE on the river of the same name. Northward, stages 
run to Sierraville, and a fair mountain valley, called 
Sierra Valley, has attracted many settlers. To the south runs a 
narrow-gauge road — the Lake Tahoe Railway and Transportation 
Company — carrying the traffic and the travel to the great lake. 
The road follows the river and the ride is one of great interest and 
much beauty. The river is the outlet of the lake and runs off into 
Nevada, where it is lost in Pyramid Lake. 

Truckee has long been a wood camp — a lumberman's town — 
and the forests have almost disappeared in the maw of the market. 

32 




Glimpses of Lake Tahoe. 



THE MATCHLESS LAKH 

Tahoe is one of the world's gems, set in a noble ring ol 
mountains and peaks, 6280 feet above the sea. There are lakes 
at higher elevations than this, but none with at once its majestic 




A Corner of Lake Tahoe. 



proportions, its surpassing beauty of color and its vast depth. It is 
23 miles long by about 13 broad, and has been sounded to 1800 
feet, with depths beyond which the line could not fathom. Its 
waters are emerald for a mile from shore, and inside of this emerald 




Fallen Leaf Lake. 

zone are of a wonderful blue. The outer ring is transparent, and 
the boat seems to float in the air, so pellucid are the waters. 

This splendid body of water lies but about fifteen miles from 
the main line of the Southern Pacific, and is reached from Truckee 
by the Lake Tahoe Railway, a narrow-gauge line that follows the 
picturesque little valley of the Truckee River. In the heart of the 
Sierras, in a region wild and beautiful, easily accessible, with a 
delicious air rarely disturbed by storms from May to October, it is 
a favorite resort for multitudes. 

All about are mountain lakes scooped out of the granite by the 
glacier, and trout streams, and waterfalls, and fine hotels make the 
region very attractive to the visitor and the vacationist. In this 
high region the world of care and toil seems far away, and mind 
and body rest. The waters are always cold, and the trout that 
come from their depths, attracted by the lure of the angler, are 
the finest of their tribe. Trolling on the lake is a favorite sport, 
and a half day's catch of these large fellows makes a fine display. 
A couple of trout streams on the eastern side take the sportsman 
up into quiet and beautiful mountain meadows and stretches of 
woodland and forest, while Mount Tallac, Freels Peak, and many 
rugged and lofty points of the hills, make an inspiring landscape. 

The lake has a fringe of fine trees around it, and in places 
magnificent forests sweep down to the edge. A very handsome 
little steamer, capable of carrying 200 people, plies to and fro, and 
no ride can be more delightful on a summer day. Hotels and 
resorts are numerous. Emerald Bay is a remarkable nook of the 
lake, beautiful in its seclusion, in the color of its waters, and the 
Eagle Falls in a rocky defile just at hand. The Tallac House is a 




Glimpse 



Mountain Lakes. 



large and well appointed hotel, in a tine growth of pine, cedar and 
tamarack. Sail and rowboats are available, and a climb to the top 
of Mount Tallac makes a memorable day. Nearly ten thousand 
feet high, it shows the vast inter-mountain region for long distances, 
in every direction. Many small but charming lakes are easily 
reached — Fallen Leaf, Cascade, and a dozen more. Glen Alpine 
is a wild region, only seven miles away, where a cluster of these 
glacial lakes are found, abounding in gamey trout. The scenery is 
very grand. 

From McKinney's various places of interest are reached. The 
Lakeside House is at the State line, partly in Nevada and partly in 
California. From it excursions go to Freels Peak, the highest 
summit about the lake. Glenbrook is a pleasant hamlet on the 
Nevada side, and Tahoe City welcomes you at the outlet of the 
lake. Tahoe Tavern is here, with accommodations for 800 
guests, and from here the steamer starts on its daily trips 
around the lake. A hsh hatchery is near by, and the manipulation 
and care of the young trout may be watched with interest. Many 
people summer near this beautiful highland water and fine private 
homes are found along its shores. 

Returning to Truckee we go on rapidly down the ri\er. Here 

is lumber and ice, and headquarters for fly fishers on the 

BOCA river. The ice crop of this region is harvested with great 

regularity. So do extremes meet. We pass out of the 

3C 




Paper Mills, Floriston, Truckee River Canyon. 

midst of flowers and triiit and summer airs and vvinterless skies lo 

where the snow falls heavily and the ice grows thick. 

Fl OPISTON '^ large paper plant is established here, and wood 

is turned into pulp and paper with great rapidity. 

This is a flourishing Nevada town, a few miles beyond 

RENO the California line. Between it and Truckee are but 

thirty-five miles, so steeply does the range sweep down. 

A long and massive uplift on the western side, a broad depression, 

then a defiant wall of rock, plunging abruptly down to the plain; 

the one side well watered, and with orchards and forests; the other 

nearly barren, rocky and arid; on the west, vast fertile plains; on 

the east, desert, sage-brush and alkali. 

Running north from Reno is a narrow-gauge road, the Northern 
California and Oregon Railway. It reaches Lassen County with a 
branch into Plumas County, serving large lumber, stock and 
farming interests. Several fine mountain valleys lie to the north, 
and stock-raising and dairying is very profitable. 

Here the man who likes the storms and snows of winter, with 
fine forests, delightful summers, game and fish and few social con- 
ventions, can be gratified. 

We return to Colfax on our way back to the X'alley and run 
out on the Narrow Gauge. 

This is a mining town of much importance. 

GRASS VALLEY The mines are quartz, and are worked now at 

great depths, but are very rich, and the yield 

has been continuous for many years. Besides the well-known 

37 



mines where the town has grown up, there are many others in the 
district. Considerable farming and fruit growing is carried on, and 
the mountain valley, from which the town takes its name, is attrac- 
tive and full of homes. 

This is the county seat, a thriving little city of 
NEVADA CITY several thousand. It is connected with Grass 

Valley by an electric road five miles in length. 
Drift, and gravel and quartz mines abound, many known throughout 
the mining world. Those having tillable land find a good market 
for all they can produce. The region roundabout is dotted with 
mines, and the county is the banner gold-producing county of the 
State. 

The climate varies with the elevation, but is everywhere health- 
ful. Fruits, vines and berries are abundant. In the higher 
regions the apple attains great perfection. Apples and ice, grapes 
and oranges — this is the range of a single county, and between 
these extremes the whole gamut of deciduous fruits is run. Out of 
snow-banks into the gardens of the Hesperides you can go in an 
afternoon's ride. 

the: ilAST SIDi: 

Back again at the Roseville Junction, we go up the main valley. 

A large deposit of potter's clay gives to this place a 

LINCOLN distinctive industry. Sewer pipe, tiling, pressed brick 

and architectural terra c(^tta are extensively nianufac- 




Irrigation Dam, American River, Near Auburn. 

38 




Clusters Like Those the Spies Bore Away From Canaan. 



tured. Much fine glazed work is produced for interior finishing 
The (]uality of clay is exceptionally tine. Considerable fruit is 
grown, going out in carload lots. 

These towns serve the farming lands in the 
EWING midst of which they are located. Vast grain 

SHERIDAN fields are in evidence and stock ranches are 

WHEATLAND numerous, sheep, cattle, horses and hogs being 
raised. Wheatland is in Yuba County and the 
name indicates the prevailing industry. As elsewhere, fruit growing 
is pressing in, and general farming becoming more characteristic 
of the community and the times. 

This town is also in Yuba County. An orange grove of 
REED about one hundred acres is near by. It is flourishing — 

the best kind of testimony as to the quality of the climate. 
Here are the steady going farms everywhere, a well established 




An Apple Orchard. 



and contented community, h'ruil orchards meet the eye at every 
turn. 

This is one of the oldest and best known towns 
MARYSVILLE in this part of the State, with a population of 

about 3,900. Marysville was born in the very 
morning of pioneer times, and gold was showered upon it from 




Oleanders !n Bloom. 



the Yuba and Feather Rivers. In later days it became the storm 
center of the struggle between the farmers in the valley and 
the hydraulic miners in the hills, the filling up of the rivers by the 
gigantic operations of great companies causing immense loss to the 
farmers by the deposit of "slickens" on their lands through the 



41 



increase ot flood waters. Grain and fruit farming are now sources 
of permanent wealth. General farming and stock-raising also 
occup)' the attention of the countryside. Machine shops, foundries, 
sash and door factories, flour mills and a successful woolen factory 
are found in the city. Its citizens are enterprising and make their 
influence felt in the affairs of the Upper Sacramento Valley. 

The low or bottom-lands of the county are not extensive, but 
the plains stretch away to the foothills, and are covered with farms 
and orchards. Many oranges and lemons are growing, wine 
grapes do well, and olives, almonds, and walnuts flourish. Stock 
receive no protection during the winter months and no food but 
that provided by the grazing lands. Irrigation is practised on the 




The White Seedless Grape. 

42 



Moonlight on Sacramento River. 



plains, but the provision made for irrigating is more extensive than 
the actual use made of the ditch systems. The rainfall increases 
as we go north, and the bottom-lands of this county are moist 
and rich. But the land, under the water systems, is safe-guarded 
against a dry season. 

Although hydraulic mining has been inhibited by the courts, 
except where they can control their own detritus, much prohtable 
work goes on in the upper part of the county. Quartz, sluice, and 
drift mining, and dredger mining in various localities provide 
camps and sustain towns, to which Marysville furnishes supplies. 
The ridge between the Yuba and the South Fork has produced 
vast quantities of gold, and French Corrall, Smartsville, North San 
luan, Columbia Hill, and Relief Hill have been famous gold-pro- 
ducing centers. The foothills are now producing fruit extensively, 
and the nooks and sub-valleys are occupied by cozy homes, and 
a climate that cannot be surpassed waits on these dwellers all the 
year. Going north from Marysville, we take the branch line to. 
Oroviile. 

The lands along the railroad do not look promising — 
HONCUT a not unusual fact along railroad lines. But the 

country roundabout is prosperous, and these red, 
gravelly or clayey soils are well adapted to the growing of fruit. 
Water is readily obtained from wells, and a number of small orange 



43 



orchards have recently been planted at Honcut. Olives do well 
also, and deciduous fruits. 

This is an orange colony. The whole region prom- 
PALERflO ises to become as famous as the fields of the south. 

Mark the region. Here we are more than 500 miles 
north of Los Angeles, yet the orange groves laugh at the lines on 
the map and go on ripening their golden fruit. There is nothing 
like it in the world; and nothing tells you so truly and so eloquently 
the climatic story as the orange grove. How soft the air; how 
equable the temperature; how free from blizzards, from sleet, or 
hail or frost; how long the summers, and how cloudless the skies. 
Look at these oranges. There is no smut on them; they are clean; 
their color is rich; their flavor is fine. This tells something of the 
soil and the dryness of the air. It is the home of the orange as 
certainly as Florida or the south of Spain. 

This upper valley is as much "the Italy of America" as 
any part of the State. Draw a line eastward on the map, and 
it will enter Europe near Lisbon, will pass through sunny, central 
Spain, will traverse the islands of Sardinia and Majorca, pierce the 
south of Italy, and in Asia will come close to the city of Smyrna — 
the city of figs. It is the Japan current in the Pacific, and the thermal 
belt on the land that gives us the best climate of the old world. The 




Scene In February In the Sacramento Valley. 

11 




Dredging for Gold in the Old Deposits of the Feather River, 



one flows down the coast of California; the other, an nivisible cur- 
rent, flows along the base of the Sierras, between the altitudes of 
150 and 600 feet. It does not respect degrees of latitude. Below 
the snow and above the frost it provides a region where the 
fig, the olive, the orange, and the lemon, and all deciduous fruits 
thrive; and this climate-making current is attested by results. 
This " thermal belt " must not be confounded with the phrase, an 
"orange belt." Oranges will do well in almost all parts of the 
Valley, where the land is suitable, and where late frosts do not 
occur. Experts say that cold air from the heights, when rapidly 
cooled during tlie night, by radiation, drains down into the val- 
leys just as water would. It flows under and lifts up the warm air, 
so' that a few hundred feet elevation will show relatively high tem- 
peratures during the night, while points in the valley floor fre- 
quently show low temperatures. 

The foothill lands offer the best opportunity for orange grow- 
ing. Generally the uplands offer the better soil and climate, with 
lower prices, but thousands of acres in the valley are wholly safe 
from frost. 

This is a prosperous town, the terminus of the line 
OROVILLE on the east side. It has many attractions and advan- 
tages. In some respects it is unique. Here are 
beautiful and profitable fruit farms, and close by are orchards torn 




Looking up Feather River near Orovllle. 

•If) 




still in tlie Orange Belt. 

(This is the Latitude of Sicily.) 



up by acres to find the gold that is under them. The Feather 
River pours into the valley at this point and has been piling up its 
rich sediment and gravel for ages. It has raised the level of a 
large region and changed its own course so often that it is profit- 
able to explore its delta and uncover its old channels. This is done 
by vast dredging machines. The "fellows who turn the earth 
upside down " have left their mark here, and Oroville has become 
the most extensive field for the dredger in the world. 

The golden spoil comes from an ancient river-bed through 
which the gorge of the Feather River has cleft its way. The 
almost inaccessible North Fork Caiion is rich in gold and will yet 
yield millions. Bidwells Bar, Dog Town, Cherokee, Yankee Hill 
— these are old mining places, and gold is still abundant. 

Back of the town fine orange groves are seen, and olive 
orchards. Beyond the outspread of orchards the short slope and 
flat top of Table Mountain appears, a gravel formation capped with 
lava. The charm of the landscape is only equaled by the attrac- 
tions of the climate and the profit of the green groves. Destructive 
frosts are unknown ; the olive is vigorous and fruitful and the 
orange ripens early. More than half the crop is shipped before 
the close of November, and not seldom carloads go off by the 
twentieth of October. Shipments are practically over by Christ- 
mas time. This enables the grower to command the cream of the 
Eastern markets. That this region is to become one of the great 



mm:'- 




Home Near Woodland. 

4S 




A Landing on Sacramento River. 

orange centers of California is beyond question. At present land 
suitable for orange culture can be bought for from |15 to |100 per 
acre. When in bearing such land is worth from |700 to |1000, and 
will pay good interest on the latter valuation. 

Figs and peaches flourish here and are profitable. The olive 
groves are a feature of the countryside. Trees eight years old are 
credited with 375 gallons of olives, which sold for 75 cents per gal- 
lon, pickled. There are oil mills at five or six points, and the pure 
oil made here is known in the market for its high quality. 

The scenic features of the mountains back of Oroville are very 
fine and a ride up to Downieville or Ouincy is full of interest and 
inspiration. 

The attractions for sportsmen are many, the hills being full of 
deer and the streams of trout. 

Returning now to Sacramento we go west to Davis, where the 
northern travel diverges for points around Mt. Shasta or in Oregon. 
We now take the main line via Marysville for the State line. 

This is a beautiful town of about five thousand 
WOODLAND people, growing and prosperous. The character- 
istic oak gives its charm to the landscape and to 
the town its name. Wheat, general farming, stock and fruit, with 
some irrigation and a growing interest in the alfalfa field and the 
dairy, mark the region. As irrigation takes away the precariousness 
which is associated with crops and harvests, farm life takes on a 



new attraction. Poultry claims attention hereabouts and with the 
growth of the blossoming clover, bees are introduced and prove 
one of the economies of the farm. Yolo County produces much 
fruit, and oranges and lemons are successfully grown. 

This is a pleasant town on the Sacramento, and has 
KNIGHTS about it, up and down the river, a rich country. 
LANDING The river here has a good current and is broad and 

impressive, a waterway of great importance and 
much used for freighting. A creamery here indicates the interest 
felt in cows, and clover, and good butter. Time was when neither 
butter nor milk could be found on the table of prosperous farmers; 
when wheat grew to the door and a garden or "truck patch " was 
unknown. Stock is profitable here and fruit and grape growers 
are making money. 

This fine town is separated from Marys ville only 

YUBA CITY by the Feather River. The two places are linked 

together by a fine bridge, a street car line and 

social and business ties. The town and the county have local 

option and have banished the saloon, so that the thirsty man in 




Sacramento River and Bridge, Sacramento. 



Yuba City must cross the river to get a drink. Tills fact may 
stimulate street car business at certain hours. 

Sutter County lands are rich, and the small cost of planting and 
the yield per acre made wheat growing profitable. But fruit 
presses in everywhere, as if with the weight of Destiny, and is 
becoming of vast importance here. The Briggs peach orchard is 

50 



known far and wide, and the Thompson seedless grape was first 
propagated here. This small white grape grows in such clusters 
as to be more conspicuous than the leaves. 

Marysville canneries take care o. much of the fruit grown in 
the county. 

A profitable crop, and largely grown, is hops. The California 
product commands a good price the world over. Vegetables 
yield immensely in the fertile bottom-lands. 

A striking object on the level plains to the northwest is the 
Marysville Buttes. This is a Spanish term for an isolated peak. 
Shasta and Lassen are buttes. The Marysville Buttes rise from 
two thousand to three thousand feet, and spring abruptly from 
the plain, having no connection with any range. 

This is the business center of a fine w^heat district, 
QRIDLEY now passing, like others, into fruit and dairying inter- 
ests. Hemp also promises to become an important 
product of the river bottom-lands. Several hundred acres have 
been grown, yielding well and paying well, even when shipped 
across the continent to market. It is indigenous to this valley and 
will become a leading industry. Growing wild it has reached a 
height of twelve feet. 

This county deserves the attention of the home-seeker. Lands 
are fertile, yet cheap, water plenty, and climate healthful, the air 




A Field of Alfalfa. 




Cherry Orchard, Chico. 

dry, and the days never depressing and sultry. Some new- 
industries ought to be attractive — the orange, the lemon and the 
olive; the fig also, with the new process of caring for and curing 
it, and the growing of hemp and tobacco, of flax and hops, all of 
which do well here and are profitable. There is a wide field to 
choose from. 

The resources here are the same as around Gridley. It 
BIQQS is a prolific wheat growing district, with fruit and stock 

as adjuncts. The town is the shipping point, and the 
social and business center. 

This station became a necessity to a broad grain field 
NELSON of a dozen miles in diameter. The station has become 
a town of nearly a thousand people, and the com- 
munity is prosperous Stock-raising and fruit from the beginning 
have shared popular favor. 

Originally a stock region, which perhaps explains the 
DURHAM name. It ships immense quantities of grain and 
draws from a larger field than that of Nelson. It is 
still a stock center, and diversified farming breaks into the wheat 
record. Butte Creek is crossed between the two stations. Splen- 
did oaks beautify the landscape — a feature of all this valley 
country. 

This is the chief town of the upper valley, a beautiful 
CHICO place with a population of about 4000. Chico is one 

of the oldest towns in the valley. At an early day, 



53 




A Three-Year-Old Peach Tree. 



it was planted near the bank of Chico Creek, the center of a dis- 
trict devoted by the founder to fruit and herds. A State Normal 
School is here and fairly equipped. It is delightfully located and 
its campus is full of trees and flowers. 




fl^ ' 'M. 



\ ^ 




Fish Hatchery at Baird, Sacramento River. 



Reference has already been made to the great "Rancho Chico," 
the famous Bidwell estate. This magnificent property, under the 
oaks of which many famous men of Europe have walked, is being 
subdivided and sold. So also is the Wilson ranch — another large 
holding just north of the Bidwell. 

Chico is the center of a rich and charming region, where all 
kinds of fruit flourish, and where many industries offer choice of 
occupation. It is a stage point for much mountain travel, and 
handles a good deal of freight for the mountain towns and mines. 
A fine mineral paint comes from near Magalia and is prepared 
here for market. The ore carries gold enough to pay for mining. 
The tributary mines are still rich though long worked. The 
Cherokee is credited with a yield of |13,000,000. The Willard 
produced one nugget yielding $10,690. Cape Claim gave up 142 
pounds of gold for a single day's run. Some of the most prom- 
ising gravel deposits in the State are in this region, and will yet be 
opened up. Extensive forests of sugar pine, yellow pine, spruce, 
fir and cedar are accessible, and at the head of Butte Creek a grove 
of abietene pines is found, the only grove known to exist in 
America. Its gum is medicinally valuable. 

A power plant furnishes light to the city, electric energy to run 

65 



mills and other machinery, and to operate dredgers at Oroville, 
twenty miles away. 

NORD Originally a cattle ranch, it has become wealth-producing 
in grain and fruit. The fields are broad and fertile. 
This is the station and shipping point for the famous Stan- 
VINA ford vineyard. It is a very attractive region, and was sel- 
ected by the far-sighted Senator Stanford for qualities 
which commended it to his business sense. The estate has been 
very productive, the great fields outlined with olive trees, and an 
atmosphere of successful husbandry everywhere diffused. Herds 
of graded cattle and thoroughbred horses have often pleased the 
sight. It is still a beautiful region of vines and clover and fruit. 
This is the junction point with the line that runs down 
TEHAflA the west side to Woodland. It is a small town in a 
county of great and varied resources. Every kind of 
fruit is grown extensively, save oranges. The peach has the larg- 
est acreage, then the prune, and next the apricot, the almond and 
the pear. The olive does magnificently, and many new orchards 




Grain Barges Going Down the Sacramento River. 

are being planted. Sugar-beets are likely to become an important 
industry here, and a factory will probably be established. Sheep 
and cattle-raising has risen into large proportions of recent 
years. The loveliness of rural life is nowhere more finely illustrated. 
Great oak parks dot the landscape; long lines of sycamore, cotton- 
wood and elder fringe the streams; orchards and vineyards, fields 
of alfalfa, always vividly green. Vast tracts of yellowing grain, 
stretching miles away, with flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, bands 
of horses, make up a picture wonderfully attractive. "A goodly 

56 



land," the Hebrews called litde Palestine; but here is a "Land of 
Promise " in a single county, with 700,000 acres of farm and fruit 
land, 800,000 acres of grazing land, and 500,000 more of timber or 
forest — a heritage a king might be proud to own. 

The county seat of Tehama, is a pioneer town on 
RED BLUFF the banks' of the Sacramento, with 2750 inhabit- 
ants. It serves commercially a large and pros- 
perous region, and is itself full of activity. Mt. Lassen shines 
yonder in the nortlieast, the blue of the Coast Range is seen in the 
west, while in the north the purple masses of the Siskiyou Moun- 
tains and the Sierras seem to blend with Mt. Shasta's white cone 
for the apex. P>om this environment of mountains and cations 
many streams escape, making it "a land of brooks of water, of 
fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills." 

From the tall pine forests in the Sierras a V flume carries 
lumber forty miles to Red Bluff. Flour mills, an ice plant, cold 
storage, fruit packing, and planing mills make up part of the public 
utilities of the town. Mineral springs near by are much in vogue. 
This is another active center of fruit production 
COTTONWOOD and shipment. The olive will be heard from in 
these northern counties. The oil yield is large 
and the berry one of the coming fruit foods of the world. It will 
be asked for in its ripe state. The green thing is much in market, 




Characteristic White OaI<, Sacramento Valley. 

u7 




A Mountain Road. 

because it ships and keeps well, but it is not palatable, not nutri- 
tious and not digestible ; but take a few ripe olives and a little 
bread, and you can tramp all day in the hills. Many locations in 
this county will produce good oranges. 

Fruit is still at the front as we go up the line. A 
ANDERSON packing-house is here and fruit prepared for ship- 
ment. In the southwest part of the county the 
Angora goat finds favor. In this and Glenn County the industr\ 
is a growing one. The goat thrives on the waste lands and brush 
of the hills, and is profitable. The Angora has more sense and 
more courage than the sheep, and is very prolific. 



We are now at the head of the great Valley. It 
REDDING spreads away like a floor, with scarcely a break, to 

Bakersfield — a distance of 447 miles. The length of 
the State is about 750 miles, so that much more than half its length 
is a level plain, of great, but varying width. And the temperature 
of this inland empire varies but little. Redding has a mean annual 
temperature of 61.4'' and Los Angeles, in Southern California, a 
mean average of 62°. There is nothing like it elsewhere on the 
planet. There are physical causes indeed, which in Europe push 
warm weather far north of corresponding latitudes on the Atlantic 
Coast of America, and these causes are similar to those which 
control the climate of California. But in no country can you travel 
450 miles north — nay, 600 miles north — as here, and find the 
climate practically unchanged. Do not stumble, therefore, over 
the phrase " Northern California," as if it differed climatically from 
the orange lands of Southern California. It does not. On the 
contrary, oranges ripen in the north from four to six weeks earlier 
than in the south, perhaps because the orange sections here are 
farther inland, and so unaffected by the sea breezes or the humidity 
in the air which results from proximity to the ocean. 

Get the Southern Pacific's Climatic Map of Califorfiia. Note 
the pink sections. It is the region of the orange — 60 to 68 degrees. 
You can tell at a glance where you want to locate — ^where the 




Landing on Sacramento River. 




Young Vineyard in Sacramento Valley. 

climate will not disappoint you. It is. the climate of Los Angeles, 
but with the cheaper lands of a country not yet "discovered." 

And all this vast region wiU grow every product of the north 
temperate zone and of the semi-tropics. All that will grow in New 
England and all that will do well in Florida can be grown here on 
a single farm. Does not this make an ideal land for the farmer? 

The rainfall at Redding averages 34 inches, nearly twice that 
of Sacramento, so that irrigation is generally unnecessary. At 
the north of the town the Sierras and the Coast Range approach. 
The caiion of the Sacramento opens northward and the Valley 
spreads out like a fan below. Shasta County has an elevation of 
from 500 to 2500 feet, and is composed of valleys and foothills and 
the plateau at the head of the main valley. The central and 
southern portions consist of table-lands, while along the river are 
some rich bottom-lands. Redding is very prosperous, and increas- 
ing rapidly in population. Farmers and fruit growers find a good 
market for all they can produce. 

This is a new town of about two thousand people, 
KESWICK brought into existence by the smelting industry. A 
large plant is erected here, owned by the Mountain 
Copper Company. The modern methods of treating ore make 
this the base metal era, and smelters are coining money. This 
stimulates quartz mining, for the smelter must have a certain 
amount of ore for a flux. Three large smelting plants are at work 
in this vicinity and towns are building, population growing, and 



markets active. Trinity County, like Shasta, has a vast territory 
heavily mineralized, while the former has also extensive gravel 
deposits. The largest hydraulic mining property in the world, 
perhaps, is opening now, and water is being piped over twenty 
miles of almost inaccessible country. An immense sum was paid 
for the acres of golden gravel. 

Many cozy little homes are scattered through the mountains. 
The farmer, with a few acres of fruit and a little field for grain or 
pasturage is often a miner also, working a small claim at intervals. 
One such, three or four years ago, struck a pocket, taking out about 
|33,000 in a single day. That is one of the possibilities which make 
mining so fascinating. 

the: SHASTA REGION 

_ We return from prospecting in the hills and re- 

THE CANON sume our journey. We are now in the caiion of 
the Sacramento, creeping along the breast of 
cliffs, and through tunnels, and crossing and recrossing the river, 
amid scenes of great beauty and sublimity. From Redding, the 
great white cone of Shasta was seen, seeming to rise out of a 
forested horizon, and as we go upward, it gleams upon the sight 
again and again, a thing of beauty and of majesty. Its glory is 
best seen at a distance and from below. Then its dark lavas are 
suffused with a pale rosy glow, its white summit outlined softly 
agdinst the sky, and the wide placid sweep of its base is full of 
repose. 

Here the eastern wall beside us is broken by a rugged canon 
and the McCloud River comes pouring its cold flood into the Sacra- 




Castle Lake. 
62 




Scene in Canyon, near Mt. Shasta. 

rnento. Back among the hills it first joins the Pitt River, and the 
two streams, swollen by many mountain springs, add their volume 
to the Sacramento. All the region watered by the streams is wild 
and virgin. It is a district full of fine forest trees with many deer 
in the depths of the woods, and trout in the icy waters of the 
streams. The Pitt River cuts its way from the volcanic regions of 
the northeast, across a billowy sea of hills, and falls toward the 
west in a series of white rapids. The McCloud has the ice chill of 
Mt. Shasta upon it, and has worn its way through lava rocks, and 
tumbled down steep gorges, to lose itself in the larger stream that 
rolls down to the Bay. 

The Sacramento is muddy and sluggish far down the Valley, 
but here is clear, and bright, and turbulent, rushing and foaming 
among the rocks, a very ideal trout stream, and a line of light in 
the landscape. 

This was a sportsmen's hotel in the days when only the 
SIMS Oregon stage woke the echoes among the hills. It stands 

back from the station among orchards of apples and other 
fruits, on a fine plateau, in the most rugged portion of the Sacra- 
mento Cafion. Trout, game in its season, fruit and berries fresh 
from the fields, milk and butter from their own cows, and an 
old-time hospitality make this a restful place. 

SWFFT RPIFP These are camping places and hotels, close to- 

CRAO VIFW gether in a very attractive part of the caiion. 

BAILEY'S ^^^^ ^'^^ views, the delightful climate, the pure 

water, the numberless excursions into the hills, 



63 




Sacramento River in Canyon near Shasta Retreat. 

the wild flowers, the luxuriant ferns, the bathing and fishing, make 
these resorts very popular in this season. 

The fine hotel here was burned down and has 
CASTLE CRAG not been rebuilt. But the crags remain, one of 

the most striking rock piles of any country. 
The buttresses of this giant structure reach down to the bottom of 
the carion, and the columns and minarets of gray, steely granite, 
lifted high against the sky, are very impressive. They reach an 
altitude of four thousand feet, and easily and naturally suggest the 
towers and minarets of some lofty and impregnable castle of the 

65 



Middle Ages. Back of these splintered peaks, at an elevation of 
nearly seven thousand feet, lies Castle Lake, a lonely bit of crystal 
water, resting in its granite cup, over whose lip the wild azalea 
droops, and in whose depths the silvery trout floats like a shadow. 
The lake is accessible from this point by a steep trail, or farther up 
by horseback. 

Numerous fine 
UPPER soda springs 
SODA are found in 

SPRINGS thecaiion,and 
this is one of 
the most noted. It is an 
old and homelike place, in 
one of the wildest and 
most picturesque parts of 
the caiion. Shasta is but 
fifteen miles away, the fine 
coniferous forests, full of 
splendid sugar pine, spruce 
and cedar, and here and 
there, on sloping mountain 
sides or on top of dividing 
ridges, lie lovely meadows, 
the wild gardens of the 
deer, lush with grass, and 
starred with flowers. Noth- 
ing is finer; and you cannot 
cross one of these forest- 
hidden gardens without 
finding, perhaps still warm, 
the couch of the red deer, 
or, flaming in the sunlight, 
the brown and orange 
spotted tiger-lily, or a bed 
of blue and white violets 
and daisies. The water ot 
the Soda Springs is cold 
and palatable, and for cer- 
tain diseases very bene- 
ficial. The fish commis- 
sioners keep the river 
stocked with salmon and 
trout, and game can be 
found deep in the solitude 
of the hills. 

but a few steps from the 
track of the Southern Pacific, and is a regular stop- 
ping place for all trains. Everybody "drinks" here, 
and many fill bottles or demijohns for later refresh- 

66 




Sacramento River in Canyon. 

This mineral sprin 
SHASTA 
SPRINGS 



ment. The water is bottled here for a wide market. On a fine 
plateau above the springs are cottages, and many come here for 
rest and the benefits hoped for from the water. 

This is a camping spot, grouped about a magnifi- 
SH ASTA cent spring, pouring out a great volume of icy water. 

RETREAT Several fine mineral springs are also on the grounds, 
and Shasta is in full view. Plants and flowers grow 
in great profusion, and the air is full of the balsam of pine and 
spruce and fir. The retreat is under church control, and has a tab- 
ernacle for public services. The Chautauqua Assembly is one of 
the summer attractions. There is a tavern with airy rooms, and 
comfortable cottages. 

Here a fine view of Shasta is obtained, and this is the 
MOTT visual center for all the region. The lover of the grand 
and beautiful will look up to it at noonday, pale and 
shadowy against the sky; will linger at evening to see the great 
lava cone glow with light, when the caiion is dark with the gather- 
ing gloom of night; and will even " turn out " to see its dark head 
outlined at dawn amid the fading stars, or strongly set upon the 
arch of rose which heralds the coming sun. 

Turning the glance back over the route we have traveled, the 
slopes of the great cafion are seen and the outlying cliffs of Castle 
Crags, while to the west, Scott Mountain looms up in majesty. 

The rambling, picturesque, and homelike hotel, long 
SISSON known as "Sissons," has disappeared. It had its day, 
and many a sojourner at the old, romantic inn thinks of 
it with a sigh of regret. The fame of the place was wide-spread, 
and the old homestead was enlarged, and patched, and added to 
from year to year until it had a character of its own, and was as 
original in appearance as it was home-like in the experience of its 
guests. Strawberry Valley, full of willows and brush, became a 
meadow, with a background of dark velvety pines, and above that 
belt of green rose the white, triple cone of the great mountain. It 
was worth ten years of common life to sit on the veranda at Sisson 
and look out over that peaceful mountain meadow, and up the 
shining slope of that 

" Burned-out crater, healed with snow," 
and watch the play of light on granite crag or lava flow, or to sit 
in the sunlight of July and see a snow-storm raging about the 
mountain summit, and rain falling in the valley at its feet. 

The railroad is here now, a bustling town is in the valley, and 
a hundred things have changed. But the new "Sissons" is 
attractive if it is modern, the old-time hospitality is there, and the 
mountain is unchanged. A delightful summer resort, it often has 
weeks of excellent sleighing, and then the tavern is alive witli 
guests from the city to whom the snow and the sleigh-ride is 
a novelty. 

68 




Upper Falls, McCloud River. 

THE MIGHTY SENTINEL 

A climb up Mt. Shasta in August or September is an event for 
the vigorous. The timber line is at an elevation of about 8000 feet, 
where the hrst camp is made. Horse Camp is next at 11,000 feet, 



and from there the climb is made on foot. Thumb Rock is 13,000 
feet, and if nausea, faintness, or violent heart action does not " lay 
you out," the 1440 additional feet between you and the summit can 
probably be slowly made. At the top the air is piercing and cold, 
but the view is entrancing. The blue roll of forest land, stretching 
away from your feet, the symmetrical form of Mt. Pitt yonder, 
warm and rosy in color, the Three Sisters and Jefferson beyond, 
the Klamath and Cioose Lakes in their environment of lava and 
burned-out volcanoes; eastward the INIadeline plains, and the pale 
high key of Nevada deserts; southeast the Sierra's green bulk, and 
over it, eighty miles away, Lassen's Peak, standing up, bold and 
fine; south, the deep cafion of the Sacramento, and away below, 
the brown and sunny plain of California; on the west, a confused 
mass — 

"A misty camp of mountains, 

pitched tumultuously," 

billowy as the sea, with ridges and peaks and dark abysses and 

shaggy rock chains. You seem to be on one of the summits of 

the world, and everything falls away from your feet and is softened 




In the Siskiyou Mountains. 
70 




A Tunnel in the Siskiyou Mountains. 



and subdued by distance and spread out like a map. It amply 
repays exertion and loss of cuticle from the reflection from the 
snow fields, but only those should attempt the climb who are in 
first-class physical condition. 

Here we diverge a little, taking the short line called 
UPTON the " McCloud River Railroad." It is chiefly a lumber 

line, penetrating the rich forest region to the east. Of 
old time we went from Sissons to the Big Bend in a stage-coach, 
twenty-five miles of delightful ride. Now we take this odd 
"switch back " railway and climb the grades and round the hills, 
until we reach McClouds, where are noisy mills and logging trains 
and mountain homes. The river, a few miles beyond, is a quiet 
stream, its source not far away in the green meadows at the foot of 
Shasta on the east. Its mother is Mt. Shasta, and it wells up out 
of the earth, icy cold. It grows rapidly, a hundred rills and springs 
adding to its volume, so that a dozen miles shows a broad tumult- 
uous river, dark in the shadows of the great trees, and gathering 
strength with every mile. It has immense attractions for the Nature 
lover and the sportsman. The noblest trout of all the tribe, the 
" Dolly Varden," lurks in this dark green water, wary and full of 
vigor. Deer and bear are in the wilder regions, where the mill 
men have not penetrated, and mountain lions are not seldom seen. 
Fine views of Shasta are obtained as one climbs along the trails. 
The region is full of splendid timber, the finest sugar-pine forests 
of the State, or of any State, being found in the McCloud Basin. 

71 



Going northward again, toward Oregon, we note the lessening 
forest growth until we reach 

The name is suggestive. It is literally the edge 

EDQE WOOD of the forest. Thereafter, climbing to the Siskiyou 

summit, a distance of twenty-five miles, there is 

very little timber. The country is broken and rolling, with farms 

here and there, and extensive cattle ranges. 

This is forty miles north of Sisson and is the junc- 
MONTAQUE tion point of the Yreka Railroad, running to the 
town of the same name, the county seat of Siskiyou 
County. It is a town of considerable importance. Mining, lum- 
bering and cattle raising are the chief industries. Farms are in the 
small valleys and the whole county is prosperous. 

From this point a stage line runs to Klamath Hot Springs, 
AQER eighteen miles distant, and near the border line between 
California and Oregon. It is one of the most attractive 
mineral spring resorts in the State, partly because of the excellence 
of its waters, and partly because of its beautiful scenery and the 
charm of the trout stream at its doors. The Klamath is a dashing 
mountain stream, alive with trout. The elevation is about 2700 
feet, and the temperature never high. Salmon, silver and rainbow 
trout can be found within sight of the hotel. 

The Siskiyou Mountains run over into Oregon. From their 
summit we look down into the faraway Rogue River Valley, one 
of the finest of Oregon's many fine valleys. Going on a little, we 
cross the head waters of the Klamath River, rolling westward to 
the Pacific, and at Cole's we are at the end of our northern journey, 
and the next step is Oregon. 

Turning back now, we go down the mountains, and through 
the caiion of the Sacramento and out upon the broad valley to 
Tehama. From this point the road diverges, and we take the 
west side line to where we left the main track at Woodland. We 
thus see the tier of counties on the Coast Range side of the Sacra- 
mento. The distance from Tehama to Woodland is about one 
hundred miles. 

THE WEST side: 

This town, on the north side of Thomas Creek, is a 
FINELLO small business center for a grain growing district. It 

is on the edge of the old-time regime in farming 
methods. 

This is a colony center, separated from Finello by 
RICHFIELD Thomas Creek, and not more than two miles dis- 
tant. It marks the transition to a more stable form 
of agricultural life, and settles up the country. Children born 
belong to the land ; schoolhouses are builded, and communities 
formed, and an independent citizenship takes the place of renters 

72 



^A% 




0^ 


^mi 














1 





A Tehama County Cherry Tree. 

($18 worth sold from this tree in one year.) 

and employes, whose only interest in^the"country is what they can 
get out of it. 

This is an old-time town of about 1100 people, 
CORNING (]uite surrounded by the colonies which have been 

planted in the wheat fields, and have transformed 
tlie face of the country. Conservative ranchers stick to cattle and 
grain. One sold off part of his holding to the colony managers 
for 125.00 per acre, and when he saw what could be done with, the 
land bought a good share of it back at |;72.00 per acre. Many are 
in the ruts of habit and method, and do not see the possibilities of 
development until it is actually demonstrated before their eyes; 
they stay by the forms of industry which they know. 

This is a striking example of what this region and 
MAYWOOD a inmdred like it are capable of, and what courage, 
COLONY confidence, foresight and intelligent energv will do. 

In 1S90 this was a wheat field. At first 4000 acres 
were subdivided; but additions were (juickly made. As fast as one 
tract was settled up another was thrown open and settlers soon 
found to occupy it, until the original 4000 acres had expanded to 
27,000. To-day, Maywood Colony is a prosperous, contented, 

74 



industrious and successful aggregation of home builders. A plot 
of the central group of colonies shows the town of Corning com- 
pletely invested with orchards and farms, nearly every lot being 
sold and occupied. There are hundreds of comfortable homes, 
fine business blocks, well equipped hotels, schools, churches, an 
opera house, and all the evidences of a progressive and successful 
enterprise. Oranges do as well as anywhere ; olives are profit- 
able as pickles, or converted into oil ; peaches, pears, apricots, 
vegetables, grain, poultry, melons, sugar-beets — everything goes. 
A huge fig tree, five feet in diameter, and a black walnut, eighty 
feet high, hint the wide range of tree growth. Peas and tomatoes 
are produced by the ton, the cannery taking all that can be grown. 
A flock of a thousand to fifteen hundred turkeys is not an uncom- 
mon sight in the region. 

The Colony district, ten years ago, had but about 100 people, 
exclusive of Corning. It now numbers 2000, and with the old 
town fully 1000 more. The newcomers are Eastern people, 
who had but little capital and no knowledge of farming and 
fruit raising as practiced here. Competent California farmers 
guided the first efforts, and no difficulty or hardship has been 
experienced in "getting started." Back of all has been a wise 
management, a liberal and enlightened policy. Then soil and 
climate. The growth can be duplicated on hundreds of thousands 
of acres in this rich valley. It requires only the initiative, fair 
treatment, intelligence and wide advertising. Multitudes only 
want to know the facts about California. There are hundreds of 



w 




Cleek's Acre at Orland. 
(Two people supported by this acre for twenty years.) 
75 




Court House, Willows, Glenn County. 



chances here to one in the older communities, and no unequal 
contest with Nature, with cold, and frost, and storm. 

Outside of the limits of the colony just left, we dip 
KIRKWOOD into the conservatism of farm life again. This is a 
market town for a district given to grain growing, 
to live stock and a little fruit. But the object lessons in many 
localities are breaking into the old cultcu"al habits, and new life and 
growth begin to appear. 

This is Gleiui Coimty — a few years ago a vast wheat 
ORLAND held. But change is in the air — transition to new 

methods. ( )rland is growing, and the region round- 
about filling up, and a diversity of the products of the land gives 
the tiller of the soil an immense advantage. He always has some- 
thing to turn off. Here is alfalfa, and butter, and honey, melons, 
oranges, lemons, all kinds of deciduous fruit, and all kinds of vege- 
tables. ()li\es and almonds flourish. One tract of ()H acres set lo 
almonds returned, in 1901, 19 tons, which sold for 11 cents a pound; 
net result about 13500. Oranges and lemons are being planted. 
The Lemon Home Colony is two miles out from Orland, with good 
land, well watered. It is monotonous to repeat that citrus fruits 
will do well at a hundred points hitherto untried. We are trying 
to tell the truth about a vast region. It is Nature's fruit realm. It 
has millions of acres as well adapted to oranges and lemons as 
Sicily, Malta, the (irecian Archipelago, the south of France, or 
the best section of Spain. The soil and the climate here insure 




High School, Willows, Glenn County. 



the success of oranges, lemons, olives, apricots, peaches, prunes 
and almonds. But increasing attention is being given to water and 
to alfalfa, as in many other places. The town is growing. You 
may see here a single acre which for twenty years has supported 
the owner and his wife in comfort. 

Land is not high, it is cheap. As in many places, it is men that 
are wanted — men who can plow a straight furrow, who know good 
land when they see it, and who have something to sell every time 
they go to town. Land is plenty, and men with intelligence and 
energy can make a fresh start anywhere in this valley with half the 
eftbrt their fathers put forth to clear the forests or break the soil of 
the Middle West. 

The business center again of a wide area 
QERriANTOWN devoted to grain and stock. Land can be 
bought for from |20 to |65, land under cultiva- 
tion, but without improvements. It is a good region. 

This little city has a population of about 1600, and is 
WILLOWS full of life. The tributary country is rich in grain 

and fruit. Willows is the junction point of a branch 
line that traverses a productive region as far as Fruto. This 
euphonious name indicates the prevailing industry. Yet stock- 
raising, dairying, and general farming is in vogue. One man 
grows 10 acres of tomatoes, netting him from 1700 to |1000 a year. 
Another raises barley, alfalfa and potatoes, and from 37 acres 
netted, in 1901, $2600. River bottom-land set to peaches returned 
|120 per acre from a large tract. 







■ ' • ' 


•'^^f^f^^f^^i^^^M 








•■:.*' 


U^ 



Colusa, LooKing West. 

Another market-place and shipping point for grain 

NORMAN and stock. The western foothills furnish good pasture 

and in the rougher brush lands the Angora is profit- 




Orange and Lemon Trees, Colusa High School Grounds. 



able. From a flock of five hundred, one owner sheared two thou- 
sand five hundred pounds mohair, selling for thirty cents a pound. 
His flock was increased by four hundred kids. There is a growing 
market for the long silky fleece. 

We are still in the midst of wheat fields, wide, flat 
MAXWELL reaches of country. Diversified farming is growing 

in favor, and the monotony of yellow grain-fields 
will soon disappear. 

Hogs are seen in the fields, and other stock, and more atten- 
tion will be given cows and the dairy. The character of the soil 
will reveal itself at a glance. 

The mountains on the west side are full of delightful camping 




Apricot Orchard, Yolo County. 



places, and some of the most famous mineral springs are easily 
reached. Deer and bear are plenty, and foxes, coyotes and 
panthers are readily found. On the east the Sacramento River 
offers good fishing, and ducks and geese in their season. 

This is the connecting point with the 
COLUSA JUNCTION "Colusa and Lake Rkilroad." It runs 

east to Colusa and northwest to Sites, 
and from the latter by stage to Bartlett Springs and other Clear 
Lake points; Sites is a small foothill town. The foothills of both 
mountain ranges, the Sierra and the Coast, have many fine and 

79 



fertile little valleys, and the climate is always exceptionally fine. 
Where water can be had they make ideal places for fruit. Along 
the Coast foothills, water can usually be had by digging wells. 

Colusa is a town of nearly 2000 people — with its extensions, 
2200. Electric power has been brought in, and is available for 
pumping, for irrigation, and for other mechanical purposes. A 
great body of magnificent alluvial land is here, that will grow 
anything, with plenty of water for purposes of irrigation. Lands 
are being cut up into small farms, and fruit growing will supplant 
wheat farms. Oil is found of a superior quality, and may prove 
very productive. The lands along the river are protected by 
levees, and the river itself is made to serve for winter irrigation. 
Bartlett Springs, which is not far from here, is very celebrated and 
nuich resorted to for the cure of certain diseases. Other springs in 




Laguna Valley, Near Vacaville. 

the county are used as summer resorts, and for the healing virtue 
of their waters. The Colusa stone quarries are drawn upon from 
all parts of the State. The fine quality of the stone shows in the 
new^ Ferry Building at San Francisco, and in the band-stand at 
Golden Gate Park. Considerable land is for sale here at fair prices. 

The population is about 1200, and the town is in 
WILIJAMS the midst of vast grain fields. The increased 

value of stock is being recognized, and this industry, 




A Dairy Herd in the Valley. 



and greater diversity of farm jjroducts, is 



with fruit farming, 
growing. 

The whole region is dexoted to grain and stork. 
A R BUCKLE The town serves as a shipping point, and for market 

purposes and social life. 

W'lien some pastoral bard arises — some modern 
DUNNIGAN X'irgil, surveying these boundless wheat plains, will 

he find poetry in the scene ? There are figures for 
the census, but not much to inspire the poet. The barns are not 
ideally colored, like Eastman Johnson's, and where there are any 
at all, they are not " as wide as a Dutchman's barn, " the monot- 
ony of endlessly pleasant weather dispensing with barns, in most 
cases, and piling the grain in sacks in the field. The country 
tributary to Dunnigan produces grain — and a great deal of it. 

Poetry is still immolated here under the wheels of giant 
YOLO combined reaping and threshing machines; or buried by 
the gang i)low. It is a vast industry, but too easy for 
profit in these competilixe days. A brief period of plowing and 
sowing, anotiier of harvesting, and then the employes drift away 
to the towns or cities, and the rancher waits for Jiext year. Mean- 
time, California imports a hundred things she consumes, and ought 
to produce at home. Pork, condensed milk, preserves, jellies, 
jams, poultry, eggs, sugar — all ought to l)e provided in this opulent 
State. Woodland we saw on our way north. 

This town is the point of divergence from the main line 
DAVIS to Sacramento. It belongs to Solano County, a very 
prosperous region, having a frontage on San Pablo and 
Suisuu jiays, and tide-water navigation at Suisun and \'allejo. 
From this section farm products have been shipjied extensively to 
the Philippines. Wheat, oats, barley, sugar-beets, dairying, live 

8'J 




Field 



Solano County. 



Stock, deciduous fruits and nuts, wine and table grapes are all rej)- 
resented. 

Davis is a pleasant Iionie-like town ot the countr)-, brown- 
cheeked and vigorous with health. 

A brisk little city a few miles down the line, serving a 
DIXON good district of country. An irrigating canal has been 
surveyed, and a storage dam will be built up Putah 
Creek to serve this section. Already there is a prosperous cream- 
ery here, and with irrigated alfalfa lands its business \\'ill rapidly 
increase. 

Like Dixon, this is a market town and shipping 
BATAVIA station for a miscellaneous farming section. Grain, 

dairying, live stock and tVuit represent the industries, 
and markets are easily reached. The reclamation districts, in 
the eastern part of the count)-, have done extensive work, and the 
harvest of cereals has been bountiful. In the western end, the re- 
opening of a valuable cjuicksilver mine promises profitable returns, 

83 



This prosperous valley town is a junction point, a branch 
ELHIRA line running up the rich Vaca Valley, as far as Rum- 
sey. Opening out into the great interior valley, almost 
unperceived amid the rolling hills, is the doorway to the home of 
the cherry and the apricot. Elmira sits in the broad valley sur- 
rounded by fertile lands, and is a place of considerable activity. 
A few years ago the fine little valley about us was 
VACAVILLE a wheat field, with not a house in sight; now there 
is a population of several thousands, and hundreds 
of prosperous families. There is much comfort, and not a little 
affluence amid all this green boscage. Many a nice home has 
been built out of fruit. The " House of Cherries," or the " House 
of Apricots," might well be the designation of many a luxurious 
home. Peaches have often yielded |350 an acre here, and apricots 
not seldom |200, while cherries have returned even more. The 
profits of later years are not so great, but a large shipment was 
made in 1901 , and the returns have put the orchardists in good 
humor for a year. A very fascinating business still, if the fortunes 
of a dozen years ago are not so quickly made. 

Vacaville stands in a garden of the Hesperides, and the last 
days of February or the first ones of March the blossoming orchards 
are a poem. The town has a population of about 1500 and is 
prosperous and progressive. 

This pleasant town is in the edge of the broad valley, 
WINTERS in the center of an old Spanish grant. Here a date 

palm — a child of the desert and the sunshine — ripens 
its fruit year by year. This speaks volumes about the equableness of 
the temperature. The almond, the orange, the lemon, the vine and 
the pomegranate do well. A fruit orchard of 20 acres yields |1700 
cash and a living for its owner. A woman, gardening and fruit- 
growing on 40 acres, in 1901 received net $3575.50. Royal apri- 
cots and Muir peaches on 70 acres returned |4344 — an average 
crop. Almonds on 40 acres, 9 years old, netted |100 per acre. 
In 1901 the return exceeded this by |25. Corn is planted here in 
January and later crop in March, and is marketed in May. Beans 
go into the ground early in February, and peas are ready for 
market in March. Frost has never harmed these early crops. 

This town is still in the great valley. Woodland is 
MADISON not far away, in the midst of farms of fruit and grain. 

It is all beautiful, fertile, oak-dotted, and would seem 
to be a paradise for the farmer. 

Here we enter another and larger valley than that of 
ESPARTO Vaca, but of the same general character. It is 

twenty-four miles long, by three or four wide, and is 
protected on every side, opening only on the great plains. The 
orange shows a clear bright fruit of fine flavor, and ripens early. 
The rainfall is go(jd, and grain mingles with the green of orchards. 
The soil is very deep and is formed of volcanic detritus, 

8-1 




Indian Acorn Hut near Rumsey. 
(One of the few left on this Coast.) 



RUMSEY 



This is the head of the valley. Here roamed the 
Digger Indian, living largely upon acorns. Here 
stood their great "sweat-house" and the rude 
thatched hovels of the tribe. These lords of the mountains and 
the plain are nearly gone. The valley is full of fruit, and most of 
the growers paid for their land out of the proceeds of the orchards. 
The purchase price was often paid at the end of the third year, so 
profitable had been the use of the land. Thrift and economy have 
made an independent community. Cozy homes and schoolhouses 
are amid the fruit and nut trees. 

Commg back to the main line, we stop briefly at Suisun. 
SUISUN Tide-water comes up close to the town, and wild fowl 

and sportsmen are plentiful in their season. The 
valley called Suisun is devoted to fruit and the yield is large. 



This county town is a mile or so to the eastward, 
FAIRFIELD and beyond its grazing huids and hay fields are the 

reclamation districts, where cereals are grown. 
Oats grow well here, a reminder of the days when over all these 
low hills the wild oats grew luxuriantly. The "'49er" will tell \'ou 
proudly, in proof of the soil's fertility, that wild oats on any hill 
could be tied across your saddle bow. Tliis whole region is health- 
sea breeze from the Golden (iate being a daily 



ful, the 
\isitant. 



lit 



CORDELIA 

of the pa\inji 



Westward lies a little town, in the midst of broad 
fields of heels. Many carloads are shipped from 
Cordelia to the refinery at Crockett. This is one 
industries of many sections of tlie State. 



Corn Without Irrigation, Sonoma County. 

The Napa and Sonoma Valleys are reached 

NAPA JUNCTION through this junction point, from Vallejo on 

the south, and by a short link from Suisun. 

The county seat is a beautiful little city, at the head 
NAPA CITY of navigation on the Napa River. A place of 

churches and schools and much culture, it has 
about it excellent roads, and an intelligent and prosperous country- 
side. No fairer valley can be found in the State, nor one more 
fertile or with a more charming climate. A broad and beautiful 
boulevard leads out from the city two miles to the State Hospital 
for the Insane. This is a large and handsome building, with fine 



AcU-kcpl grounds, and cost |1 ,500,000. It has about 200 attaches 
on its pay-roll. 

The city is one of homes, and its streets are well shaded and 
the whole place attractive. A woolen mill, glove factory, two shoe 
factories, tanneries, wineries, cream of tartar works, warehouses, 
newspapers and gas and electric lights are among the public 
utilities. A fine stone library building is the gift of one of its citi- 
zens. 

Napa Valley itself is a garden, full of beauty and bounty. There 
is no more prosperous region in the State. It is an inviting valley 
for the general farmer, the vineyardist or the fruit grower. Olives 
yield well and oil is profitably made. Cherries are a good bearer. 
Two and one-half acres have yielded 4000 boxes, averaging |1.00 
per box. Four acres of prunes have returned $500, and four of 
Bartlett pears $275. This is good profit. The valley is very beau- 
tiful and the climate cooler than farther inland. 

This is a low, oak-crowned mound, its great, wide- 

OAK KNOLL spreading trees making an attractive setting for a 

fine home. It is a place of great beauty. 

This pretty village is the center of farms and 

YOUNTVILLE orchards, about nine miles north. The veterans 

of the Civil War have here an* excellent home, 

where they wait to be mustered out. 




Apple Orchard at Preston, Sonoma County. 

88 




Italian-Swiss Colony Home. 



This attraclixe town is eighteen miles from Napa, 
ST. HELENA and has a population of 2500 people. It is in a 
region of vines and of much fruit. The great stone 
wine-cellar near by is said to hold 3,000,000 gallons of wine. The 
great vineyards make the warm hillsides look like a section of " the 
sunny land of France," only there are more sunny days in the 
year here than France e\ er knew. 

Oranges and Fnglish walnuts are culti\ ated on the hill-slopes, 
and do not require irrigation. Almonds Mourish, and peaches, 
apricots, and prunes are in all the valley. 

Climatically the region is exceptionally good, and resorts are 
mimerous. The Adventists have a well-managed sanitarium here, 
and a large patronage. The health foods they produce are widely 
tlistributed . 

Napa Soda Springs, on the eastern mountain-side, is famous for 
its tine waters. It has attractive walks and driveways, and com- 
modious and elegant buildings. The panorama of tlie \alley and 
its towns, its fields and orchards and vineyards is very impressive. 
This is the third town in size in the county, and 
CALISTOOA is the terminus of the Southern Pacific, which 
traverses the valley. Stages run from this point to 
springs tlu'ther north and over Mt. St. Helena into Lake County. 
The .F^tna Springs, some miles distant, are quite celebrated. 



Calistoga has numerous springs of hot mineral water, and gold 
and silver and quicksilver is found in the vicinity. Quicksilver mines 
are running to their capacity, and new locations are being made. 

Pope, Chiles, and Berryessa Valleys are small nooks in the north- 
west, where general farming and stock-raising are the chief indus- 
tries. The raintall in all this region is ample, and no better resi- 
dence section can be found. 

Returning southward, we turn west again at Napa Junction and 
pass into Sonoma Valley. This is one of the choice valleys of the 
.State. The county is larger than the State of Rhode Island, and 
its products range from corn to oranges. The latter do well in 
sheltered localities, and the former grows as it does in Kansas, and 
without irrigation. Here may be seen large cornfields, the old- 
fashioned corn crib and the fat hogs which are characteristic of the 
middle West. Here, also, the vine, the fig and the olive are found, 
the alfalfa field and the prune and apple orchard. The amount of 
rainfall insures good harvests, and makes the region an attractive 
one for the farmer. The scenery is diversified and beautiful, and 
the climate free from excessive heat in the summer, while flowers 
blooming, stock pasturing, and oranges ripe in midwinter, speak 
of the mildness of that season. 

This is called the " City of Roses," and is the 

SANTA ROSA chief town of the valley. It is the county seat, 

and the largest city west of Sacramento and nortli 




Orchards in Rusbian River Valley — no Irrigation. 
91 



A Poultry Farm near Petaluma. 




Corn Planted in June— Crop of Hay from same ground in Spring, 
of San b'rancisco. It has a popiilalion of about eii;lU thousand, 
and double that number Hve w ithin a radius of a few miles. Sonoma 
is the largest, most populous and wealthiest of the Coast counties. 
It has a superficial area of about one million acres, and is the most 
diversified in its products of all the counties of this State. Half the 
area of the county is valley or foothill land, the latter being vvarni 
and dry, and adapted to the finest wine grapes, citrus fruits, olives, 
apples and nuts. Three of the largest wineries in the State art- 
here, and neither the Falernian of ancient or the Chianti of mod- 

93 



trn Italy is better than the wine here produced. Santa Rosa is 
the home of Luther Burbank, the great originator of new plants 
and fruits. 

One hundred thousand olive trees are producing, and the 
pickled fruit, and pure delicious oil, will count among Sonoma's 
largest exports. Apples are a distinctive feature of this region. 
California produces a good apple, of fine color and flavor — if the 
right soil and the proper exposure is found. The fruit grower 
turns off no more profitable crop than that yielded by the apple 
orchard, if his location and choice of stock is good. 

This town, located on Petaluma Creek, a tide- 
PETALUMA water channel, has a large commerce, and many 
good homes. It has the distinction of being the 
poultry center of the State. It is an important industry, and it is a 
reproach to the State that it does not produce poultry and eggs 
enough for its own consumption. In this county the annual 
product reaches two million dollars a year, of which Petaluma 
ships more than one-half. Poultry farms are everywhere, from a 
few hundred hens, up to great ranges of Leghorns and other vari- 
eties. This industry can be counted on to pay from 75 cents to 
|1.00 per fowl. It needs only attention to details. With a small 
acreage for cultivation, poultry furnishes a profitable adjunct. 

The sugar-beet grows well in this county. Near Petaluma and 
Sonoma, both on tide-water, large acreages are grown, and pre- 
parations are made to establish a factory for crushing the product. 
Thousands of acres of marsh land is suitable for beet culture and 
the industry has passed the experimental stage. 

The business of hop raising has long been a feature of agricul- 
tural life here. Not less than fifteen thousand bales are produced, 
and the profit per acre is good. Hop picking is a picnic season 
for many townspeople, who thus add to their health by an outing 
in the fields, and to their pocket-money by their work. The camps 
are very picturesque, and the fragrant hop fields, full of men and 
women, boys and girls, in the delicious September air, are very 
attractive. Choice Sonoma hops are rated as the best in the world. 
Neither vermin, mould, rust, red spider or storms mar the vines. 
Tobacco growing promises well, and will be one of the coming 
industries. It has made a good start and the plant thrives in 
almost every section. The climate fosters growth at almost any 
season of the year. 

The visitor will note that here corn grows without irrigation; 
that Sonoma is a hay county; that crops are certain, and that noth- 
ing that the farmer wants to grow is alien to the region. One of 
the best apple regions of the State is what is known as the Gold 
Ridge country, while on the coast south of this ridge is an almost 
ideal dairy country, the native grass being green nearly all the year. 

The rainfall in the coast counties above San Francisco extends 
from the first of October to the first of July. There are but three 
months in which showers do not fall — July, August, September. 




Cloverdale, Sonoma County — Oranges Do Well Here. 



This explains the green hills and valleys, when other parts of Cali- 
fornia wear a coat of brown. It explains the luxuriant cornfields. 
It explains the appellation, "cow counties," which long ago was 
given to the northwest coast. The mean winter temperature is 
about that of May on the Atlantic Coast. 

While driving along a road in Sonoma County one day, a gen- 
tleman saw different farmers engaged in the following operations: 
Planting potatoes, cocking hay, pruning hops, planting corn, dig- 
ging potatoes, and filling a crib with ripe corn. Query — What 
season of the year was it ? 

This county has produced the white blackberry, the stoneless 
prune, the Shasta daisy, the Burbank potato, and many variations 
in plant life from cross pollenization, the most successful originator 
of new and improved fruits and flowers in the world, Luther Bur- 
bank, having his home and gardens in this county. 

The canon through which Russian River flows 
CLOVERDALE to the sea — a valley rather than a canon — is one 
of the camping-places for San Francisco people. 
The tallest and largest redwood trees in the State grew originally 
on the bottom-lands along the river. Oranges have long been 
grown in Russian River Valley, and are now quite a commercial 
product about Cloverdale. This is the chief town of the valley and 

95 



"ill ' irfilil 













Geyserville, Sonoma County. 

a delightful place of residence. The culture of the tobacco plant 
is being introduced into the valley near Cloverdale^ with great 
promise of success. 

The petrified forest of this county is a great curiosity, as are the 
Geysers also, not far beyond. The latter are visited from all over 
the world. Hot vapors and gases pour out of cracks and fissures, 
and innumerable springs and streams from subterranean recesses 
spurt and spout in every direction, while the ground trembles and 
rumbles. The " Devil's Teakettle," the " Devil's Gristmill," and 
the " Devil's Kitchen " are some of the names affixed to localities. 

Yet there are a great variety of healing mineral waters, a perfect 
mountain atmosphere, picturesque drives, and good fishing along 
the shady Pluton River. The Geysers are reached by way of 
Calistoga. 

The trend of the coast affects the rainfall of Sonoma, the pre- 
cipitation increasing as the coast line runs west of north. The 
crops never fail, and the summers are never hot. Returning down 
the road we now touch two bay cities, and then are done. 

This breezy town, with its honorable Spanish name, 
VALLEJO is active and prosperous. It is in Solano County, 
which belongs at once to the Valley and to the Bay 
region. The portion of it which lies in the Sacramento Valley is of 
great fertility, and all crops are grown without irrigation, but would 
be better for it. At Vallejo is located the Navy Yard. Many men 




The "Solano " at Benicia. 



are continually employed on Mare Island, the large reservation 
owned by the Government. Here are located docks, shops, bar- 
racks and officers' residences, and here is the naval rendezvous oi 
the Pacific fleet. Here warships are constructed and repaired, and 
we of the Pacific Coast see at this point the defensive armor of a 
nation whose type is industrial, and which shows the visitor more 
plows tl^n swords, more schoolhouses than battleships and 
cruisers. 

The business of \'allejo is stimulated by the monthly pay roll of 
the Navy Yard, but the town has resources of its own, and the 
business area is extending. The streets are bitumenized, and new 
buildings show increasing prosperity. 

This is a town of about 3800 people. A military post, 
BENICIA with its appurtenances, is here, and a Government 

arsenal. The grounds are extensive and well kept, 
tlie drives and walks lined with trees which shade barracks, store- 
houses, offices and repair shops. Munitions for the Pacific Coast 
are kept here. The outl<wk from among the trees on the hillside 
is very fine. 

Benicia is tkstincd to be a manufacturing center. The bay, the 
railroad, the proximity of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, 
tile extensive deep-water frontage, bringing ship and factory 



together, admirably adapt the place to the purposes of the manu- 
facturer. Several tanneries are here, making large shipments to 
the East, and a large factory and foundry devoted to agricultural 
machinery. Several shipbuilding yards are also here, a canning 
factory and plant for evaporating cream. 

Benicia and Vallejo will shortly be connected by an electric 
road, and this will probably be extended to Napa City. The cli- 
mate is of the sea, healthful, bracing and delightful. Benicia is a 
pleasant town for residence, and in the new era that is dawning in 
California, shops and factories will multiply, and the town by the 
bay will become a city, expanding over the hillside and looking 
out over quiet waters full of the ships of an enlarging commerce. 

This completes our survey of Northern California. "An honest 
tale speeds best being plainly told," and we have not " drawn the 
long bow" wilfully, nor been disposed to exaggerate. We have 
spent nearly half a lifetime in the State, and desire to make it known 
to others. There is no fairer land than this, none with such variety 
of productions, such fascinating country life, such wonderful 
resources. The vast region we have traversed needs only to be 
known to draw to itself an ample population. The knowledge of 
Southern California came as a surprise to many. It was " discov- 
ered," and its amazing development came as a consequence. But 
here is the same California, evidenced by its productions, its 




Plowing, January 29, 1902, in Wiliits Valley, Mendocino County. 



t#C. 



99 



oranges and orchards and vineyards, and it needs only to be 
known. 

The tide of population will flow into this vast realm when it is 
known that our lands will yield competence and comfort to small 
owners, and that what the land yields will find the markets of the 
world. No other commonwealth has as diversified products, and 
in no other country of the globe can all that Florida and New Eng- 
land soils produce be grown on one acre. There is a competence 
for a thrifty family on a very few acres of ground, and an expanding 
market for all the surplus that the State will grow. 

Do not skip now what we have to say to you about climate and 
opportunity, and the rest of the chapter. Here is the gist of the 
whole matter, and you will find it suggestive. 




A Farmer's Home near Healdsburg. 

CASH VALUE OF CLIMATE 

What does climate mean to the practical man? Comfort first, 
perhaps. "No enemy," Shakespeare says, "but winter and 
rough weather." The Anglo-Saxon accepted winter as a natural 
fact, and California climate comes to him as a surprise. It did in 
the south, and wlien he had time to verify all that was said of it, he 
fled to that land of sunshine as to a refuge. Its charm captured 
thousands, filled up the country and built a city of a hundred 
thousand almost in a decade. People like comfort. 



A Home at Fair Oaks, with Oranges. 



Then climate may mean health. This is a more serious thing. 
Comfort comes short ; it may only coddle us, not " brace us up "; 
but health invokes vigor, robustness, energy. If the air here was 
moist as well as warm it would be depressing. A damp, humid, 
warm atmosphere fosters vegetable growth, but induces langiior 
and disease. You cannot extract health and longevity from tropical 
moisture any more than you can condense blueing from our skies. 

It is the dry air of our warm valleys that makes for health. The 
brown cheek is evidence, the vigor of childhood, the improve- 
ment of the invalid. There are no heat prostrations; the sun never 
strikes the worker down in the field or on the street. This climate 
means health. 

Still further, it means financial profit; it has a value in dollars 
and cents. Thus it means economy of construction ; we build 
more cheaply ; we provide less expensively for stock. 

It means again economy of consumption; we burn less fuel; 
stock require less feed. We lay up but little for the barren month 
between seasons, when rain has spoiled the dry grass and the fresh 
has not yet grown. We do not eat up in the house and burn 
through months of storm and cold, what has taken half a year ot 
toil to produce. The machinist does not stop to warm his tools ; 
the woodsman does not thaw his axe; the carpenter and the mason 
do not " lay by " on account of cold weather. If the farmer has a 
"habit of stuffing occupation into odds and ends of time," he 
will not rust out here, for every day may be a day of productive 
labor in field or barn, in orchard or dairy. 

The farmer's harvest does not hurry him ; his grain waits in 
the field for the harvester, and lies unsheltered in the sack until it is 
convenient to take it from field to market. 

His sowing does not hurry him ; grain may be put in the 

101 



ground from November to March. Haymaking is not a rushing 
season ; cut when it is ready, it lies in the field without danger 
fi-om showers. Alfalfa is not turned or "stirred" — it cures as the 
mower leaves it. 

This is all gain ; it reckons up into hard cash. Kindly air, 
winterless skies, uninterrupted growth becomes part of a man's 
resources. Nature is on his side and befriends him, and life is not 
strenuous. 

Then, too, climate means variety of productions. Tiie whole 
gamut of vegetable life is lun here. The wheat of Minnesota or 
the oranges of Florida; the apples of Michigan or the lemons of 
Sicily; the peaches of New Jersey or the olives of Spain; the corn 






Ferry Building from Bay of San Francisco. 



of Kansas or the melons of Persia; the barley of Russia or the 
vines of France; the potatoes of Ireland or the peanuts of Georgia; 
the sugar-l)eets of Germany or the figs of Smyrna. Everything 
goes, and the man who would till the soil can suit his taste or his 
genius; can put all his eggs in one basket or in many. It is a great 
advantage. 

And the quality tells; the climate reports itself in the clean- 
ness and early ripening of the orange of the North, in the 
lusciousness of the Bardett pear, in the flavor of the peach. The 
ciuality of light and heat report themselves in the tissues, the chem- 



istry, the color and aroma of the fruit. This has made California 
fruit famous. 

The rainfall enters as a factor; orchards elsewhere are often 
ruined by unseasonable storms. Here the rain finds the tree 
unloaded, its leaves gone, its sails reefed. The ripening fruit is not 
injui-ed by summer rains, for they are unknown. The priceless 
wealth of fruit in the orchard is not exposed to tornadoes, against 
which the mountains lift protecting walls. 

The soil is a factor. It is deep and rich. The roots of fruit 
trees and vines can go down indefinitely, finding food and 
moisture. The light and sandy soils even are rich, holding their 
chemical elements, because not washed barren by torrential rain- 
storms. The dry lands are always rich lands. So that California 
climate, which we are charged with selling, has a positive value. 
The land of the "brown summer" and the "green winter," is a 
land where a living can be made under the most favorable con- 
ditions. This is worth pondering. These are items to " paste in 
your hat." 

A DAY or OPPORTUNITT 

Is this a favorable time for home-making in California or for 
investment with a view to increased values ? Recall two or three 
facts. In the first place, there is a wide-spread interest now felt in 
the future of California. This interest is not romantic or senti- 
mental. It is not connected with climate or scenery, the delights 
of travel, or the comfort of a winter sojourn where the grass is 
green and the flowers bloom. It is more deeply rooted than that 






A Corner In Alfalfa. 

103 




iscopai Kesiaence and St. Paul's Cathedral, Sacramento. 



It has to do with commerce — the great word of to-day. The 
Pacitic Ocean has suddenly become of vast commercial importance. 
The great transportation companies, the managers of steamship 
lines, and of trans-continental railroads, are alive to the growing 
consequence of this Pacific-side of the world. This must be 
apparent to all. 

Naturally the center of interest is in California. The Pacific 
northwest is feeling the quickening pulse of things, but the gateway 
of the Pacific is midway of this State. Here is the great harbor; 
here the natural metropolis of the West. Through the port of San 
Francisco must pass most of its growing traffic, and of that which 
comes from the awakening Orient. The natural focus of maritime 
commerce is here, and here are the terminals of two great trans- 
continental railroads. Here the West meets the East, and througli 
this gateway will flow the productions of the West — its fruits, its 
Hour, its agricultural and other machinery, and in return will come 
the riches of China and Japan, of the Philippines and Russia's 
Oriental possessions — for Russia has thrust a long arm across 
Siberia to touch Pacific waters. 

Is it too much to say that it was foresight of this immense com- 
merce, and the predestined greatness of California as the vanguard 
of western civilization, that led to recent changes in railroad owner- 
ship, and compelled the reconstruction of the railroad map of the 
United States ? Are the " Captains of Industry " mistaken in plan- 
ning for a vast traffic? 



If we turn to the country which is tributary, we tind another 
reason for confidence. Northern and Central California represent 
a great area, with a sparse population. Magnificent in soil and 
climate, well watered, and producing everything that grows in the 
North Temperate Zone and in the region that may be classed as 
semi-tropic, yet its natural resources are only partially developed. 
The reasons are plain. Until within a few years it has been a 
remote land, and it cost time and money to reach it; the sense of 
isolation was great; its nidustries were new; its climatic conditions 
new; and emigration followed the lines of latitude which experi- 
ence had made familiar, and staid by industries to which the indi- 
vidual had been trained. Now, however, California is near; trans- 
portation is cheap; the feeling of remoteness is gone; the success 
of orange culture, of deciduous fruit growing, of rai.sin making, 
of prune drying, has been demonstrated, and these industries are 
being taken up by those who were once afraid of them. 

Again, the great ranches are being broken up. The era of 
speculation in land, and especially in wheat-farming, has passed. 
The depression in the wheat industry is throwing thousands of 
acres into the market. The spread of irrigation is having a like 
effect. It means a good income from a small farm, because it 
involves intensive culture. No man wants to irrigate and care for 
a quarter-section — the farms of our fathers. 




St. Joseph's Academy, bacramento. 

105 



The result of this combination of conditions is to put good land 
on sale at low rates. This means a day of opportunity such as will 
never come again. The breaking up of the large land holdings 
began in Southern California. Good orange land presently com- 
manded three hundred dollars per acre. To-day the bearing groves 
cannot be bought for one thousand dollars an acre. But such land 
can be bought in Northern California at from fifty dollars to one 
hundred dollars per acre, and where oranges ripen early and suc- 
cessfully year by year. The finest farming lands and lands for 
deciduous fruits can be found, in a hundred localities, at such prices 
as will never be known again in the State. 

SOCIAL life: 

What society shall I find in California ? What privileges ? What 
refinement and culture? What air of good breeding and good 
morals in which to rear my children ? These are questions which 
deserve a serious answer. 

It is commonly thought that the West is rude and wild. The 
*'\Vild and Woolly West" is supposed to apply to California as 
well as to the stock ranges, which gav^e birth to the phrase. But 
what President Roosevelt said recently is true. "California," he 
said, "is the land beyond the West — that is, a land apart, a land 
by itself." This is true. California is exceptional in its topography, 
its climate and its productions. It is hardly too much to say that 
it is exceptional in the quality and character of its citizenship. 
Certainly this is true of the independence, the freedom and indi- 
vi;kiality of the Californian. David Starr Jordan, the distinguished 
president of Stanford University, says that "the dominant note 
in the social development of the State is individualism." This 
is not strange. It took some courage once to come west to the 
ocean — to leave home ties and associations and begin life in a new 
country. And because land was plenty and men were few, these 
few grew up as the oak does on our wide plains. It shapes itself 
after a law of its own, while the crowded pine in the forest grows 
as it must and one is like a thousand others. More than in the 
hampering centers of the P^ast there was developed here a free and 
unconventional life, but out of its native strength came in due time 
the graces of the finer sort. Dr. Jordan says accordingly that 
"nowhere in the world can one find men and women more hos- 
pitable, more refined, more charming than in the homes of pros- 
perous California." Society had to make itself in this remote 
land, and because the moral law is written in the market place as 
well as elsewhere, life rapidly took on moral qualities. The stern 
law of individual responsibility is in force here, and the fool is 
quickly turned (wer to the fool killer. If a young man thinks that 
in California he will not be held to so strict account for manners as 
in the East, he had better not come. There is public opinion here 

lor. 




Italian-Swiss Colony Vineyards, Sonoma County. 



that is not thin blooded, but robust. An out-of-door quality is in 
it — a man's view of men. 

We usually find the kind of society we want to find, and men 
and women are not far to seek in this Pacific civilization of ours, 
as gentle in manners, as refined in speech, as clean in life as can 
be found anywhere. Life is a little more joyous and light-hearted, 
I think; there is a little of the irresponsibility of the picnic about it 
still, but that will take care of itself in time. It is to be expected 
that sunshine and green salads all the year will promote cheerful- 
ness. Human nature is affected by its environment, and there are 
no bitter east winds here, no sf^orms of sleet or hail, no tornadoes 
to destroy the homes, or blizzards to kill the flocks and herds; the 
poultry is not frozen on the perch, or the water pipes congealed in 
the kitchen, and it is not surprising that v^^e laugh and are happy. 
If Mr. " Sunset " Cox had lived in California he never would have 
written " Why We Laugh." 

Here is the great, glad world of sun and summer, and three 
hundred days in the year are days of sunshine, and many are 
haloed at their close with sunsets glorious as Italy can show; and if 
anybody under Heaven should know the joy of living it is the 
Californian. Schools and churches, universities and museums, 
clubs for study and culture, and clubs for enjoyment, galleries of 
art and conservatories of music, books and pictures, the charm of 

107 




A Sacramento City Home. 

quiet homes and the beauty of simple lives — you will find all that 
you most long for if you look for it. And withal you may have 
" Rich puddings and big, 
And a barbecued pig," 
the mensal delights of a good table on a farm of your own, where 
half the fruits of the tropics grow and where, with less labor, on 
fewer acres, and with more comfort, you can reap more generous 
harvests and to more profit than in any other land we wot of under 
the canopy. 

This is the industrial opportunity, put briefly, simply, without 
exaggeration or misrepresentation. The minor questions, "What 
can a poor man do ? " " What can the man with small capital best 
invest in ? " " How can he invest so as to assure himself a support 
from what he sells? " " What are the profitable openings for men 
of more means?" — these are questions that must answer them- 
selves after investigation. There is no lottery here. You cannot 
put money into property blindly and hope to draw a prize; and 
success, after intelligent investment, will depend upon the indi- 
vidual. But a tithe of the energy that was expended in breaking 
the prairies of Illinois and Kansas, or in clearing the forests of 
Indiana and Ohio, will make a home here. The soil is ready for 

108 



the plow; it is fertile — the soil of a new land; the climate invites to 
comfort, and subsistence is easily won. 

The population of the United States is increasing by leaps and 
bounds, and it is now only a question of a few years when this 
** Western end of the West" will be full of homes. A new era is 
at hand. The nation is turning to the desert — to the arid lands — 
to find homes. W^e are increasing in a wonderful manner, and 
markets and facilities for getting to them are enlarging every day. 

Is it not certain that so fair a land as California will not long 
lack for men to develop its natural wealth ? There will soon be no 
room for settlers here, vast as is the area of the State. 

Life in California is life in a new land, with new conditions. Its 
agriculture and horticulture have long since passed the stage of 
experiment, and the newcomer sees everywhere a prosperous 
countryside; but he is afraid of two things — irrigation and fruit- 
growing. Depending all his years upon moisture from the clouds, 
he is disposed to shy at artificial methods. But much of the region 
we have traversed has an ample rainfall, and general farming is 
not at all dependent upon irrigation. In this broad land the 
settler can choose his location. But irrigation is best. It is the 
oldest form of tillage, and it is the latest wisdom. It is a step for- 
ward, and the conservatism of the farmer will give way where 
radical methods mean dollars and cents. Irrigation is scientific 




Eugene n Buffi M.pi.oto. Bridge ovcp American River at Fair Oaks. 

109 



farming and is increasing in every country of the world. The 
habits of a lifetime are being revolutionized' by the success of the 
new method. It is an object-lesson so tremendously impressive 
that no sensible man can disregard it. When forty acres, well 
watered and tilled, yield more than a ([uarter section farmed in the 
old haphazard way; or when your cattle suffer in time of drought, 
getting poor on many acres of natural pasturage, while your 
neighbor shows a fat herd, up to their knees in an irrigated field of 
alfalfa, you see the difference between the old methods and what is 
called "intensive farming," 

Then there are economic and social advantages. The land is 
not impoverished by use. Water fertilizes; it holds in suspen- 
sion the chemical elements gathered from the hills, and properly 
applied the land is perpetually renewed. "The fertility of the 
tropics flows seaward in the Nile," and the fat valley is rich 
to-day as in the days of the Pharaohs. It is so here, wherever 
irrigation is practised. 

Then irrigation means a denser population. Massachusetts has 
270 people to the square mile; the Valley of the Nile, 543; the 
Valley of Cottonwood Creek, in Utah, over 300. Forty acres 
means four times as many neighbors as 160 acres. Twenty acres 
eight times as many. Given near neighbors, schools, churches, 
markets, and the isolation of the old farm life is gone; the young 
peoi^le are not driven to the city by the loneliness ancl monotony 
of country life, and as in Maywood Colony, in Fair Oaks, in 
Riverside and Redlands, we have all that is best of the town 
combined with the attractions and independence of country life. 
There is in many places in California the most attractive country 
life in the world, and there is the making of many more. 

It comes partly out of the new and unfamiliar cultures, the citrus 
orchards, the deciduous fruit farms, the olive groves and almond 
and walnut harvests, the vineyards and hop fields, the truck farms, 
and seed farms and flower farms, which give the whole aspect of 
the country a strange and unfamiliar look to the homeseeker, so 
that he feels that to settle here would be to begin life afresh with 
everything to learn. But the charm of this vast range of produc- 
tion is undeniable. It leaves men free to choose what is in the line 
of their tastes or adapted to their particular genius, and men are 
learning the new features of this amazing life somewhere in 
California every day in the year, and are succeeding. It is a 
prosperous State; people are contented. There are instances of 
unthrift and bad judgment, and mistakes have to be unlearned here 
as elsewhere, but after nearly thirty \ears in California the writer 
knows few discontented or homesick peoi:)le. 

The new industries are easih- learned; you profit by the 
experience of your neighbors. Instances of successful and profit- 
able prosecution of various new industries are to be found in every 
neighborhood, and the newcomer need not fear. Men of good 
practical sagacity can establish themselves here on a safe footing, 



and be independent in a few years. Orchards take time to mature 
and become profitable, but the sober and self-respecting wage- 
worker can always hnd employment, while the old lines of farm 
life are always open, and wheat and corn, dairying and stock- 
raising and truck farming, with land, as a rule, ready for the plow, 
and the climate always kindly, always inviting, always favoring the 
outdoor worker and always ministering to the thrift of tree and 
vine and vegetable, make better conditions than obtain in any 
other land. Crops can be diversified and so selected that some- 
thing is growing all the time. 

There is much to be done yet in the Sacramento Valley, but 
what a magnificent empire of homes it will be within a generation! 
Sacramento will be a new Damascus, the whole country round 
about it a wilderness of gardens and flowers and fruits, a maze of 
bloom and beauty, while all up and down the valley the great level 
plains are full of homes embowered in fruitful trees, teeming with 
abundance, and all the landscape shining with its silver lines of 
water, seen against the purple of the trancjuil mountains, the 
matchless beauty of the vast region only equaled by the opulence 
of its happy inhabitants. 



INDEX 



Agents, List of. Inside cover 

Ager 72 

Anderson 58 

Applegate 28 

Arbuckle 82 

Auburn 28 

Baileys 63 

Batavia 83 

Benicia 98 

Biggs 53 

Blue Caiion 31 

Boca 36 

Brighton 14 

Calistoga 80 

Cape Horn 30 

Cascade 32 

Castle Crag 65 

Chico 53 

Cisco 31 

Climate, Cash Value of 100 

Clipper Gap 28 

Cloverdale 97 

Colfax 30 

Colusa 79 

Cordelia 87 



Cornmg 74- 

Cottonwood 57 

Crag View 63 

Davis 82 

Dixon 8;> 

Dimnigan 82 

Durham 5;; 

Dutch Flat ; 1 

Edgewood 72 

Elk Grove 14 

Elmira S4 

Emigrant Gap ."-1 

Esparto S4 

Ewing 4<» 

Fairfield 8(i 

Fair Oaks 15 

Finello 72 

Floriston.... 3() 

Florin 14 

Folsom 19 

Gait 15 

Germantown 7 1 

Gold, Days of 4 

Gold Run 30 

Grass Valley 3* 



111 



Gridley 52 

Honcut 43 

lone 15 

Keswick 60 

Kirkwood 76 

Knight's Landing 50 

Lake Tahoe 34 

Lakeview 32 

Latrobe 21 

Lincoln 38 

Loomis 26 

Madison 84 

Marysville 40 

Mavvvood 74 

Maxwell 79 

Montague 72 

Mott 68 

Napa City and Junction 87 

Natoma 19 

Nelson 53 

Nevada City 37 

Newcastle 27 

New England Mills 28 

New Life 108 

Nord 56 

Norman 78 

Oak Knoll 88 

Opportunity, Day of 103 

Orangevale 17 

Orland 76 

Oroville 46 

Palermo 44 

Penryn 26 

Petaluma 94 

Placerville 22 

Population, \'alleys and 3 

Red Bluff 57 

Redding 59 



Reed 40 

Reno, Nevada 36 

Richfield 72 

Rocklin 25 

Roseville 25 

Rumsey 85 

Sacramento 8 

Saint Helena 89 

Santa Rosa 91 

Sentinel, The Mighty 68 

Setdements, Earliest 6 

Shasta Region 62 

Shasta Retreat 68 

Shasta Springs 66 

Sheridan 40 

Sims 63 

Sisson 68 

Social Life 109 

Suisun 85 

Sweet Brier 63 

Tehama 56 

Towles 31 

Truckee 32 

Upper Soda Springs 66 

Upton 71 

\'acaville 84 

Vallejo 97 

Valleys and Population 3 

Vallev Center, The 8 

Vina: 56 

Wheatland 40 

Williams 81 

Willows 77 

Winters 84 

Woodland 49 

Yolo 82 

Yountville 88 

Yuba City 50 



SOUXHEIRN PACIFIC 

REPRESENTATIVES PASSENGER DEPARTMENT 

Chas. S. Fee, Passenger Traffic Manager San Francisco, Cal. 

T.H.Goodman, General Passenger Agent San Francisco, Cal. 

R. A. Donaldson, Assistant General Passenger Agent San Francisco, Cal. 

Jas. Horsburgh, Jr. Assistant General Passenger Agent San Francisco, Cal. 

H. R.JUDAH, Assistant General Passenger Aget it San Francisco, Cal. 

G. A. Parkyns, Assistant General Passenger Agent Los Angeles, (.'al. 

W. E. CoMAN, General Passenger Agent. Oregon Lines ...Portland, Or. 

Thos. J. Anderson, General Passenger Agent, G. H. & S. A. Ry Houston, Tex. 

Jos. Heli.en, Assistant General Pass. Agent, G. H. & S. A. Ry Houston. Tex. 

W. H Masters, Traffic Manager,M. L. & T. R. R New Orleans, La. 

F. E. Batturs, Assistant General Pass. Agent, M. L. & T. R. R New Orleans, La. 

DIVISION, GENERAL AND TRAVELING AGENTS 

Atlanta, Ga.— J. F. Van Rensselaer, General Agent 13 Peachtree Street 

Baltimore, Md.— B. B. Barber, Agent 109 East Baltimore Street 

Boston, Mass.— E. E Currier, New England Agent 170 Washington Street 

Butte, Mont.— H. O. Wilson, General Agent, O. R. & N. Co 105 North Main Street 

Chicago, III.— W. G. Neimyer, General Agent 193 Clark Street 

Cincinnati, Ohio— W. H. Connor. General Agent 53 East Fourth Street 

Denver, Colo.— W. K. McAllister, General Agent 1112 Seventeenth Street 

Detroit, Mich.— F. B. Choate, General Agent. : 126 Woodward Avenue 

El Paso, Texas— G. Waldo, Division Passenger and Freight Agent; G. H. & S. A. Ry. 

Fresno, Cal.— J. F. Hixson, Division Passenger and Freight Agent 1013 J Street 

Kansas City, Mo.— H. G. Kaill, General Agent 901 Walnut Street 

New York, N. Y.— L. H. Nutting, Gen. Eastern Passenger Agent 1 and 349 Broadway 

Oakland, Cal.— G. T. Forsyth. Div. Pass, and Freight -A-gt 12 San Pablo Avenue 

Philadelphia, Pa.— R. J. Smith, Agent 109 South Third Street 

Pittsburg, Pa.— G. G. Herring, General Agent 708-709 Park Building 

Reno, Nev. — John M. Fulton, Division Passenger and Freight Agent 

Sacramento, Cal.— J. R. Gray, Division Passenger and Freight Agent 

Salt Lake City, Utah— D. R. Gray, General Agent 201 Main Street 

San Diego, Cal.— F. M. Frye, Commercial Agent 901 Fifth Street 

San Francisco, Cal.— G. W. Fletcher, General Agent 613 Market Street 

A. S. Mann, Ticket Agent; P. R. Lund, Agent Information Bureau, 613 Market Street 

San Jose, Cal. — Paul Shoup, Div. Passenger, and Frt. Agent 16 South First Street 

Seattle, Wash.— E. E. Ellis, General Agent 619 First Avenue 

St. Louis, Mo.— J. H. Lothrop, General Agent 903 Olive Street 

SvRACUSE, N. Y.— F. T. Brooks. New York State Agent 129 South Franklin Street 

Tacoma, Wash.— Robt. Lee, Agent 1203 Pacific Avenue 

Tucson, Ariz.— C. M. Burkhalter. Division Passenger and Freight Agent 

W.\shington, D. C. — A.J. Poston, Gen. Agt., Sunset Excursions 511 Pennsylvania Av. 

Yokohama. Japan— T. D. McKay, Gen. Passenger Agent, S. F. O. R 4 Water .Street 



Rudolph Falck, General European Passenger Agent. Amerikahaus, 25, 27 Ferdinand 
Strasse, Hamburg, Germany; 49 Leadenhall St.. London, E. C, England; l.K 
Cockspur St., London, W. E., England; 25 Water St.. Liverpool, England; 11m 
Wynhaven, S. S. Rotterdam, Netherlands; II Rue Chapelle de Grace, Antwerp 
Belgium; 39 Rue St. Aiigustin, Paris, France. 

(Ad. 83-3-10-04-25.000) 



THE 



SACRAMENTO VALLEY 




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